Bail granted in gecko-theft case

Lawyer Simon Graham (far left) with Thomas Price and Gustavo Toledo-Albarron outside court yesterday. Photo / Simon Baker

Two foreign visitors charged with taking protected jewelled geckos from Otago Peninsula have been granted bail under strict conditions.

The men have not yet entered pleas to the charges under the Wildlife Act of hunting and possessing the geckos, the Christchurch Court News website reported.

The pair were arrested after a third man, Manfred Walter Bachmann, a German resident of Kampala, Uganda, was found in Christchurch on Sunday night with 16 geckos in tubes in his backpack.

He has pleaded guilty and is in custody awaiting sentence.

Thomas Benjamin Price, 31, a stockbroker from Gallen, Switzerland, and Gustavo Eduardo Toledo-Albarran, a 28-year-old chef from Carranza, Mexico, were held in custody overnight after their arrest so that they could find a place to allow them to be released to on bail.

They were freed yesterday at an appearance before Judge Graeme Noble in the Christchurch District Court, after bail conditions were agreed with Department of Conservation prosecutor Mike Bodie.

Defence counsel Simon Graham said the pair would live at a hotel in the city during the remand period.

They have to surrender their passports and travel documents to the department, and report daily to Christchurch police.

They are not allowed to contact the man who is already in custody.

Judge Noble remanded them until early next month.

- NZPA