Alexander McLean. Photo / Otago Daily Times
A judge says that a Hindon man was "obsessed with hunting" and appeared to enjoy breaking the law.
Alexander Ian McLean, 22, appeared in the Dunedin District Court last week on 14 charges.
The offending began at the end of 2020, while the defendant was seeing out his previous sentence, covering 12 similar charges of poaching and dishonesty.
In December that year, McLean was stopped by police at Alexandra, driving while disqualified, and found to have 10 rounds of ammunition.
Because of previous conduct, he had been declined a firearms licence, the court heard.
In April last year, McLean was pulled again over - in Middlemarch — his seventh time caught driving without a licence.
On May 13, he and a youth associate went hunting on Department of Conservation (Doc) land without seeking permission.
GPS data from the pig-dog collars confirmed the duo's movements and McLean had no Doc permit when confronted by police.
In the ensuing days, he provided a doctored document to his lawyer, which made it seem as though he had been given permission.
It was only when police checked its validity with the department that the ruse was uncovered and McLean was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Because of his young age, the defendant remained on bail.
On August 6 last year, McLean applied for a bail variation allowing him off curfew to attend a wedding in Christchurch.
There was no wedding.
Instead, he used the leave of absence to hunt in a forestry block in rural Mosgiel.
The court heard McLean used a portable angle grinder to cut through a padlock on a gate to forestry land before spending three hours hunting pigs.
"Mr McLean has been given opportunity after opportunity. There doesn't seem to be the willingness or the ability to change," Judge Michael Turner said.
He pointed to a psychological report as being particularly telling.
The clinician assessed McLean as being unable or unwilling to stop driving without a licence, and he seemed to derive some enjoyment from it.
Judge Turner jailed McLean for three years and three months and banned him from driving for 22 months.
The family disputes the claim he 'jumped in the water' in order to evade being arrested.