Rugby players guilty of shoplifting

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Three young rugby players, in New Zealand to hone their skills, have avoided criminal convictions after drunkenly shoplifting food worth $30 from a Christchurch supermarket.

The three are improving their rugby skills in the Canterbury development squad programme.

Timothy Midlow Curtis, 22, and Carmine Elias Castro, 19, from the United States, and Andrew George Symons, 19, from Britain, appeared at a Christchurch District Court hearing held at the Nga Hau e Wha national marae yesterday on charges relating to shoplifting at a Mobil Service Station in Redwood on February 27.

Police said all three picked out food items and concealed some under clothing, then Symons paid for the visible items before they left. The items they took were valued at $30.

Early next morning, they were found in a lane where Castro climbed a 1.8m gate on to a driveway.

They were disturbed by the property owner and drove off but were stopped a short distance away by police, who noticed Symons appeared to be driving drunk.

Defence lawyer Tony Garrett said Symons was in custody for two days at Paparua prison because his work visa had lapsed.

The police were then able to charge him with trying to break into the Monkey Bar at Otago University as his DNA matched blood left on a broken window three days earlier.

Mr Garrett asked for a discharge without conviction for the three for the shoplifting charges. All three were expected to stay in New Zealand until December, he said. They all had good references.

Judge Jane McMeeken told the three they had let down the people who had got them on the course.

She accepted all three were extremely remorseful.

She discharged them without conviction but ordered that they each make a donation of $300 to the Canterbury Rugby Football Union to assist young players affected by the Christchurch earthquake.

She convicted Symons of drink driving and disqualified him from driving for six months.

- NZPA