Car thief bided her time

Hana Colleen Baker, 18, pleaded guilty before Judge Tony Walsh in the Masterton District Court last week to stealing a Holden Commodore valued at $2000.

An unemployed Masterton woman who eyed up a Holden Commodore for a month before stealing it has been offered police diversion.

Hana Colleen Baker, 18, pleaded guilty before Judge Tony Walsh in the Masterton District Court last week to stealing the car, valued at $2000, and to stealing $30 worth of petrol.

The summary of facts stated Baker had been "keeping an eye" on the car in Wrigley St for about a month, aiming to steal it.

About 8am on June 7, she took a car battery to the address where the vehicle was parked, got it going and drove to Wellington, police prosecutor Garry Wilson said: "She had no legal right to the vehicle."

About 10.30pm, Baker and associates pulled into the Gull Service Station in Chapel St, Masterton, put in $30 of fuel and drove off without paying.

About 1.30am the next day, police stopped the car in Palmerston North. Baker told them she had bought it from someone on Facebook.

However, when arrested she admitted she had stolen the car and the petrol.

"She stated that she was initially going to pay [for the fuel] but since the forecourt attendant didn't approach her, she drove off," the court was told.

Judge Walsh remanded Baker until October 21 to complete police diversion.

If she completed requirements, which might include restorative justice with the victim, community work or paying a donation to a charity, she would not get a conviction.