KEY POINTS:
A disgruntled farm worker contaminated 3000 litres of milk and ransacked his employer's milk shed in a $20,000 frenzy of destruction, a court had been told.
Joseph Donald Traynor, 17, has admitted a charge of burglary and six unrelated driving charges, including dangerous driving causing injury.
Appearing in Masterton District Court yesterday, Traynor said he went to the Dannevirke dairy farm on January 16 in the dead of night because he was angry that the farmer had fired him.
However farmers Gillian and Peter Borlase deny sacking him, saying they in fact supported the teenager, who had worked as a farmhand on their property for about a year.
The court was told Traynor broke into an office on the farm and poured acid over herd report sheets and tore the place apart before spraying graffiti on the walls.
He then poured cleaning fluid into a vat that contained 3000 litres of milk. Copper refrigeration pipes connected to the vat were also cut.
The milk, worth about $3000, had to be poured down a drain.
Traynor smeared antibiotic cream inside milking suction cups, before stealing thousands of dollars worth of tools.
Mrs Borlase said the attack on their property was gutting.
"We were in Australia at the time and were devastated when told of the extent of the damage."
"He had a real chip on his shoulder against us, I guess."
Traynor was further remanded for three months and his 24-hour curfew was cut back to a restriction of 8pm and 4am, to allow him the chance to find further farm work.
- NZPA
