Trade Me cheat given 6-month jail term

A Trade Me cheat who conned customers out of about $2500 has been sentenced to six months' jail.

Last year, Phillip Christopher Couzens offered items including an MP3 player and car parts on the online auction site. People paid money but did not receive the goods.

Couzens told them the goods had been returned or had gone to a wrong address. He never had most of the items, or they had been pawned.

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to 16 charges of obtaining by deception, five charges of dishonestly using a document, one charge of attempting to dishonestly use a document, theft, and dishonestly accessing a computer system.

Before the sentencing in Christchurch, Couzens handed his lawyer Kerry Cook an envelope with $1000 cash he had saved to be paid to the court as part of the reparations, which totalled $5977.

Judge Murray Abbott noted Couzens' history of dishonesty and jailed him for six months with leave to apply for home detention. He will have to repay his victims at a rate of $100 a week after his release.

- NZPA