KEY POINTS:
Five people charged over an alleged "car-napping" have been committed to the High Court at Christchurch for trial.
The committal by Justices of the Peace Margo McKay and Nick Atkins came at the end of 2-1/2 days of police evidence at a depositions hearing in Christchurch District Court, Court News website reports.
The police allege two limited edition Holden cars were taken in a burglary and were later sold back to the owner. The owner had offered a reward of $5000 but he was told the price to get them back was $17,000 which he paid in cash.
By then the police had been involved for months and had photocopied the banknotes, were monitoring cellphones, and had secretly recorded meetings between the owner and one of the men charged.
Michael Anthony James, an unemployed 46-year-old, Shaun Thomas Guest, a 29-year-old unemployed man, Craig Phillip Barron, 42, a panel beater, all face charges of burglary, blackmail, and receiving.
Fifty-four-year-old company director Peter Richard Boyd is charged with blackmail and receiving, and Kylie Jane Mackenzie, 33, faces a charge of receiving.
All except James were granted bail. They are all next due to appear at a pre-trial conference in the High Court on February 22.
- NZPA
