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A Napier man described by a lawyer as a "raging alcoholic" was released yesterday after a week in jail, for stealing a $11.50 bottle of wine which the supermarket got back intact.
Revell Douglas Taiwhanga, 46, was convicted and discharged when he appeared before Judge Geoff Rea in Napier District Court as a result of his inability to evade the technology and Boxing Day sleuths at Pak'n Save, Napier. Police prosecutor Sergeant Malcolm Lochrie said Taiwhanga stuffed the bottle down his pants and walked out without paying.
When staff confronted him and called the police he said he had forgotten his wallet.
Duty solicitor Matthew Phelps said after the incarceration and having not had rehabilitative sentences for "some time", Taiwhanga was motivated to address his problems.
Any sentence was a problem for Judge Rea who said: "I would have thought he had done his punishment several times over - seven nights in jail for an $11.50 bottle of wine they got back."
Taiwhanga has other charges awaiting hearing and Mr Lochrie said when the theft happened he was on bail, with a condition not to use alcohol, but there was no charge of breaching bail.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
