Gecko thief admits to receiving stolen beehives

A total of 85 beehives were taken from beekeepers. Photo / Thinkstock

A man previously convicted of stealing geckos from a Northland museum has now admitted receiving stolen beehives.

Justin Mathew Howes appeared in Whangarei District Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to three charges of receiving beehives after charges of theft were withdrawn by police.

The charges relate to a total of 85 beehives taken from beekeepers in Kerikeri, Wellsford and Kamo earlier this year.

Judge Duncan Harvey remanded Howes until August 30.

He also said a reparation report needed to be done and noted there was a dispute over the cost of a working hive.

In 2010, Howes was sentenced to four months' community detention after he broke into two Northland wildlife sanctuaries and stole 26 geckos.

It was during that sentencing the court heard that Howes had become a registered beekeeper and was working hard to turn his life around.

He became fascinated with the reptiles while serving out a community work sentence at Ti Point Reptile Park at Leigh, near Warkworth.

Seven of the geckos were stolen from an enclosure in the Kiwi House at Maunu Museum between 8pm on June 28 and 9.15am the next day. The other 19 geckos recovered by police - a mixture of green and Duvaucel's geckos - were stolen from Ti Point Reptile Park, on June 27.

Among the geckos stolen from Maunu Museum at the end of June was Fat Albert, the forest gecko who had managed to evade an earlier, unrelated, theft.

All the geckos were recovered alive in a specially built enclosure at Howes' Poroti home on July 6.