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A man jailed for stealing 20 tonnes of precious greenstone would have been convicted even without scientific evidence linking him directly to the stone, the Court of Appeal was told yesterday.
In May 2006, Harvey Andrew Hutton was found guilty on two charges of stealing Ngai Tahu greenstone (pounamu) from Cascade Plateau in South Westland over a seven-year period from 1997.
He was sentenced to 18 months in jail, and ordered to pay $300,000 in reparations.
Hutton, a well-known Otago helicopter pilot, served two months in prison before being granted home detention.
In the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday, Hutton's lawyer, Colin Withnall, QC, said the scientific tests used to link Hutton to the greenstone were inadequate and had no substantial research behind them.
"Should this sort of evolving science be used as a basis for a conviction?" he asked.
He said that without those tests there was no evidence linking his client to the greenstone, and therefore they were fundamental to the conviction.
But Crown lawyer Robin Bates said the prosecution's case also rested on a large amount of circumstantial evidence.
Hutton has repeatedly denied stealing the greenstone, saying it was all legally mined at his Big Bay claim in South Westland.
But Mr Bates said Hutton would have had to have mined the stone before his Big Bay site's licence expired in 2001, and there was no evidence of this happening.
He said for the amount of stone that was taken it would have amounted to about 100 helicopter trips and there was only record of one flight for the time Hutton said they were legally mining.
Mr Bates also pointed to the pounamu being hidden among flax bushes on Hutton's property. "If it was from his licensed site there was no reason why he wouldn't have recorded all those flights - but his records were blank apart from one flight."
Mr Bates also said the jury would have convicted Hutton on the evidence of one expert, who identified the pounamu as coming from the Cascade site
There was also evidence after 10 tonnes of greenstone was discovered on his property by police with a search warrant that Hutton said he would deny everything and say it had nothing to do with him.
Mr Bates asked why he would do that if the mining had been legal.
- NZPA
