Backpack in wrong hands

A man has pleaded guilty to receiving a stolen item.

A man found with a stolen ambulance backpack said he wanted the bandages for his dog, Masterton District Court heard yesterday.

Thomas Ron Carbin, 26, pleaded guilty to receiving a backpack and items which were taken from a parked ambulance in Villa Street, Masterton about 8pm on July 2.

Two backpacks, each containing a large oxygen bottle and other medical items, had been stolen from the back of the parked and unlocked ambulance.

Some time later a police dog unit found Carbin cycling with a sleeping bag under his arm, which contained one of the backpacks.

Carbin was in court yesterday to defend a charge of theft of items worth more than $1000.

However after discussions took place between his lawyer James Elliot and police, Carbin pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of receiving a backpack valued at $750.

Mr Elliot told Judge Barbara Morris the "sticking point" had been whether Carbin was the one who removed the items from the ambulance, which he denied.

"He came across the backpack [and] his dog had been injured fighting another dog," Mr Elliot said.

Mr Elliot said Carbin intended to keep the bandages for his dog, "but intended to return some of the items - the oxygen bottles and the like."

This was the reason for the value of the items being reduced in the new charge. Carbin also pleaded guilty to possession of some cannabis that had been put in the bag.

The judge sentenced Carbin to 80 hours' community service.