Knife pulled to steal boots from Napier store

He said he was denied a Work and Income grant but was taking the boots anyway. Photo / File

A man who wanted to double the range of his footwear from jandals to a pair of boots pulled a knife to help get his way in a Napier outdoor wear shop.

According to a summary in Napier District Court on Friday, James Edward Aris, 36, who had been sleeping on the Napier beachfront, went to Kathmandu in Hastings St in the CBD on September 18 last year.

He looked at a pair of boots and asked for them to be put aside while he went to employment and welfare agency Work and Income to apply for a grant to buy the footwear.

He returned about two hours later in what police reported was an "agitated" state, telling a shopkeeper he had been declined by the agency and he was taking the boots anyway.

When the attendant said he couldn't take the boots, Aris pulled out a knife, and brandished it towards the attendant who then said Aris could take them.

Aris stabbed the knife into a bench and left with the boots.

Having pleaded guilty to a charge of demanding with menaces, Aris was sentenced to four months' home detention with post-sentence conditions extending to a further six months. He was also ordered to pay reparation of $135 for the boots.

Judge Gordon Matenga showed some sympathy for Aris' general plight but said it didn't explain the actions that followed.

He said Aris had gone to the shop initially with good intentions, but then "lost the plot."