Mother admits stealing $12,000 outboard

A 42-year-old Featherston mother was directed to complete 80 hours of community work and ordered to pay $6000 in reparation for stealing a 90-horsepower outboard motor from a boat at Ocean Beach, South Wairarapa.

Naomi Fabling appeared in Masterton District Court last Thursday and pleaded guilty to a charge of theft.

Sergeant Garry Wilson, prosecuting, told Judge Thomas Broadmore that on November 6 Fabling had travelled with two young accomplices from Featherston to an area on the bay at Ocean Beach where a 5 metre boat was on a trailer on the beachfront.

Sergeant Wilson said all three had then climbed on board the boat and one of the young men had used a number of tools to detach the outboard motor, valued at $12,000. The trio then dragged the motor along the beach and placed it in the back of the vehicle.

When Fabling was later spoken to by police, she said she had been in the car but had slept most of the way and denied any involvement. The outboard motor was never recovered.

Sergeant Wilson said reparation of $12,000 was being sought.

Defence lawyer James Elliot said his client was an unemployed mother who was experiencing difficulties due to one of her children being unwell.

Mr Elliot said Fabling was by no means the primary offender. He said she had become involved with the young men involved in the theft when she attempted to stop her eldest teenage son from spending time with them. He said it was an unfortunate irony that she subsequently had become implicated in a theft with them. "She was really caught between a rock and a hard place," he said.

Mr Elliot said his client would be willing to pay reparation but it would have to be in instalments.

An arrest warrant was also issued for an 18-year-old co-accused who failed to appear in court.