Crunchie bar addict really loses his nut

A Bay of Plenty man took a crowbar and smashed a dairy owner's car windows because his mother had forgotten to buy him a Crunchie bar.

In the Tauranga District Court Robert Teamo, a 24-year-old unemployed man of Waitangi, pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court to a charge of wilful damage. Judge Russell Callander jailed him for one year.

On Monday this week, Teamo had given his mother some money and asked her to go to the Waitangi Dairy and buy him a mince pie and a Crunchie bar. But when she returned home with just the mince pie, Teamo got angry.

Grabbing a crowbar, he walked down to the dairy and smashed all six of the owner's car windows.

No reparation figure was given in court on Tuesday.

Teamo's lawyer, Tony Balme, said his client had difficulties keeping his responses to situations in context.

He said Teamo had shown signs of mental illness, but did not fall within the requirements of the Mental Health Act.

"Those people at the poor old Waitangi Dairy must have been scared stiff to see this guy smashing their car windows," Judge Callander said.

"I don't blame anybody for thinking you're a nut cracker. It's time you joined the human race in my view and got on with your life in a more acceptable way."

- NZPA