Pie man's half-baked charges dropped

Meat pie. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A man arrested for stealing nine $3 pies from a service station rubbish skip has had his charges dropped.

Reece Gibbs, 18, faced the Nelson District Court yesterday for theft but the judge withdrew the charges at the request of police prosecutors.

Mr Gibbs was alleged to have stolen the pies from the Z petrol station in Stoke in the early hours of the morning about two weeks ago.

The station's staff heard of the arrest when they arrived back at work, and the company pleaded twice with police not to press charges.

"We didn't think it was necessary," said Z spokeswoman Sheena Thomas.

"The pies had been thrown out - it's not impacting on our business in any way," she said.

However, the company did not recommend the practice of reaching into its rubbish bins for pies.

"The pies are good, but I certainly would not recommend it," said Ms Thomas.

"They have been thrown out and they've been sitting in a skip. I would be really concerned about how safe it is to eat.

"But if someone is desperate enough to do it, then you have got to look at the bigger issue."

A Nelson police spokeswoman declined to comment on the case.

University of Auckland Business School senior lecturer Karen Fernandez has studied societies of "dumpster divers".

Dr Fernandez said that it was an established phenomenon and that even for people who were poor, the motivation was not hunger but a protest against food being thrown out.