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An Auckland man has been fined $3500 for poisoning a gingko tree.
Rajesh Kumar Lallubhai Patel, 40, of Mt Albert, was convicted in the Auckland District Court after pleading guilty to a charge of poisoning a protected tree at the HortResearch Institute in Mt Albert Rd.
The court heard that Patel was seen drilling holes in the tree and stuffing cotton wool into them.
The Auckland City Council discovered that the cotton wool had been soaked in weed killer. An assessment found the tree was likely to survive but it was too early to tell if the poison had caused severe damage.
Had the tree been damaged, the fine would have been between $10,000 and $15,000, Judge McElrea said. Patel was also ordered to pay costs of $1392.
Auckland City Council spokeswoman Jackie Wilkinson said four other prosecutions against people who damaged trees were before the courts. She said a decision to prosecute depended on how severe the damage was and if a person knew they were breaking the law. Trees are automatically protected at 6m tall if they are native and 8m tall if they are exotic, and if they have a trunk of 20cm in diameter. Damaging protected trees can incur a $200,000 fine and a two-year jail sentence.
Last night Patel insisted he did not know poisoning a protected tree was illegal - he was just sick of cleaning his yard of leaves and branches.
Patel, 40, who works as a printer operator at a supermarket packaging company in Papatoetoe, said the tree's branches leaned over on to his property, shedding leaves and attracting mosquitoes that bit his 11-year-old son.
"Every day after school we would play outside, play hockey and there were mosquitoes everywhere."
Patel said he did not know that the tree was protected or that it was on HortResearch's property when he attacked it in January. "I'm from India, I don't know."
Within a couple of days, Patel said council officials came to his house and told him neighbours had seen him poison the tree and he would have to go to court.
