Daniel Perring's crime spree ended with him busting up a public toilet seat and tossing it outside in front of a startled onlooker. Photo / 123rf
Daniel Perring's crime spree ended with him busting up a public toilet seat and tossing it outside in front of a startled onlooker. Photo / 123rf
Shoplifting goods worth almost $1500 was just part of a lengthy crime spree that ended when Daniel John Perring broke a toilet seat in a public toilet block.
The 27-year-old has been convicted on a string of offences he admitted in the Nelson District Court today, including 11 shoplifting charges, a charge of wilful damage, and drugs charges.
The offending started on January 30 when Perring was seen on in-store security cameras, walking out of Nelson’s New World supermarket with $116 worth of items.
On February 9 he went to The Warehouse in Richmond and spent a long time moving about the store, filling his bag before going outside to empty it into his car, the police summary of facts showed.
A Nelson man caught shoplifting has been remanded on bail with a strict curfew and a warning that if he offends before he's sentenced he'll likely end up in custody. Photo / 123rf
Perring made three trips into the store, filling his bag each time, before he was seen on CCTV fleeing with the items worth $1463.
He returned to the store on February 14 and made two trips around the store, taking dental care products and electronic equipment worth $756 before dropping them into his car.
A couple of days later he went into the Farmers department store in the Richmond Mall and concealed items worth $641 before he was approached by store staff who saw what happened.
On February 17 he went to the Richmond Mall and stole goods worth a total of $819 from various stores within the mall, including gaming items, and a handheld vacuum cleaner.
The police soon found him and returned all undamaged items to each store.
Perring told the police he was “going through a rough time”, had nowhere to live and was on medication.
On February 25 he stole drinks worth $23 from Countdown and then on March 1 he took groceries worth $211 from Pak’nSave in Richmond.
On March 4 he was at The Warehouse in Nelson and concealed multiple items in his backpack. Perring handed staff a tent light and tarpaulin when approached as he headed out the door, with $107 worth of items in his backpack that he had not paid for.
The next day Perring was at Countdown in Nelson when he paid for a drink, then walked out with $95 worth of unpaid items.
It was followed by the theft over two more days from New World in Nelson of a total $75 worth of items; which resulted in Perring being trespassed from the supermarket.
On March 25 Perring was at Pioneers Park in central Nelson near a public toilet block when he became enraged and started smashing a toilet seat within the cubicle, for “no apparent reason”, police said.
A concerned member of the public who offered to support Perring, who was by then “yelling nonsensically” and throwing the broken toilet seat outside, was yelled at by Perring before he left the area.
Police soon found him and during a post-arrest search, he was found with 2.3 grams of cannabis and a methamphetamine pipe.
