Man jailed over gecko theft

File photo / Mark Mitchell

A man who admitted trying to smuggle 16 protected jewelled geckos out of New Zealand was today sentenced to 15 weeks imprisonment.

Manfred Walter Bachmann, a German resident of Kampala, Uganda, will be immediately deported upon his release from prison.

Bachmann was carrying the geckos inside pieces of plastic pipe in his backpack when arrested by the Wildlife Enforcement Group in Christchurch on February 14.

He last month admitted two charges under the 1953 Wildlife Act and faced the maximum of six months of imprisonment on each charge.

Bachmann argued that he was duped into his role in the operation but at Christchurch District Court today Judge Jane Farish said she did not accept this.

Judge Farish said that given the value of the geckos - worth up to $200,000 in Europe - perhaps the penalty needed to be increased to deter this type of crime.

"I do need to make it abundantly clear to you that commercial trafficking of protected species is dealt with in a serious way in New Zealand."

If creatures such as these were not protected they could face extinction, Judge Farish said.

She said the way the geckos were packaged in tubes for smuggling was not humane and "pretty appalling".

Two other men arrested after the geckos were found on Bachmann also appeared in Christchurch District Court today in a separate hearing.

They were accused of taking the geckos from the Otago Peninsula.

Thomas Benjamin Price, 31, a stockbroker from Gallen, Switzerland, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of absolutely protected wildlife and a charge against him of hunting absolutely protected wildlife was withdrawn

Gustavo Eduardo Toledo-Albarran, a 28-year-old chef from Carranza, Mexico, admitted hunting absolutely protected wildlife and the charge of possessing absolutely protected wildlife was withdrawn.

The men are being held in custody until March 29 when they will be sentenced.

Judge David Saunders said a short term of imprisonment or substantial fines could be expected in the case of both men.