KEY POINTS:
Life is looking up for old soldier, octogenarian, and inveterate shoplifter Reginald Hugh Donovan.
"I'm a free man?" he asked yesterday after his latest appearance in Christchurch District Court on one theft and one trespass charge.
It was true, he was free to go, his defence counsel, Denise Johnston, explained to him. Police had applied to withdraw the charges, and Judge Colin Doherty said he was happy to do so.
Donovan is 85, a bit deaf, and is still affected by the five wounds he received in World War II.
Almost everything has been tried to curb his shoplifting, including supervision, curfew, banning from many shops, a suspended sentence and even a month's jail last June.
Mrs Johnston told the court a meeting had been held in September at the initiative of the police and the private social work organisation Power to Care. Supermarket owners attended.
A support plan was put in place and Donovan had not been in trouble for nearly five months. Power to Care has been managing his money, paying his bills, and giving him a weekly allowance. It supports him with visits and phone calls.
- NZPA
