Jail term cut after police camera returned - report

A man convicted of drugs and firearms charges had six months cut off his sentence after he returned a missing police digital camera.

Police wrote a letter to Judge Peter Butler after Mathew Kidman returned a camera left behind by officers executing a drugs raid at his nephew's Stokes Valley home in December, the Dominion Post reported.

The camera contained hundreds of images, including a dead body and victims of domestic violence.

Kidman's family claimed the camera was a bargaining chip to get a shorter sentence, but Wellington police district commander Superintendent Pieri Munro said the police submission to the judge was not a plea bargain.

Judge Butler refused to make the letter public, but details of it were included in Kidman's sentencing notes.

The court documents showed Judge Butler reduced Kidman's prison sentence from more than three years to two years and 10 months at his January sentencing for unlawful possession of a firearm, aiming a gun at a person, stealing vehicles and drug possession.

"There's a further factor which has been the subject of discussion today...in my view, that enables you to a further discount of six months," Judge Butler said.

Submissions from Kidman's laywer referred to the police letter and Kidman's assistance in returning a stolen quad bike worth $18,000.

Kidman had 71 previous convictions, and at the time of his January sentencing was on bail from a firearms incident in November which sparked a two-day armed police hunt through the Hutt Valley hills.

Police commissioner Howard Broad said the letter outlined the assistance Kidman had given police.

He said it was common under sentencing guidelines for submissions to be made when a prisoner had helped police.

An employment investigation was still under way into how the camera was left behind.

- NZPA