Court wipes teen's $43,000 debt

By KELLY BLANCHARD in Rotorua
A Rotorua teenager who refused to pay nearly $43,000 in traffic fines because he hates the police has had the amount he owes wiped.

In exchange, he will carry out 300 hours' community work.

Nigel Caleb Wikiriwhi Dixon will now effectively be doing his community work at a rate of $143 an hour.

The teenager appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday.

He originally appeared in court in May because he could not pay more than $31,000 worth of fines.

His fines were reduced to $5000 and he was ordered to do 300 hours' community work.

Since then, he has racked up nearly $12,000 in further fines, bringing his total outstanding to nearly $17,000.

Judge Phillip Cooper yesterday wiped all the fines, cancelled Mr Dixon's previous sentence of 300 hours' community work and issued him with a new sentence of 300 hours' community work.

The 17-year-old has told The Daily Post he refuses to pay the fines because he hates the police.

Mr Dixon said he went to court yesterday expecting to go to jail.

"It's their call though. It's up to them."

He said he refused to pay the fines because he hated the police.

"That's just my way that I say f*** the police.

"Me and my crew can't even drive down the road without them pulling me up."

The court heard the fines were from offences such as speeding, driving unregistered vehicles and failing to display learner licence labels.

Judge Cooper explained the sentence by saying 300 hours was a large sentence and to impose more hours would be "setting him up to fail".

"In this case, this man has amassed a huge amount of fines. He has continued to amass fines even though a substantial amount of those fines were remitted."

Judge Cooper said the Summary Proceedings Act provided restrictions on sending fines defaulters to jail when it could be shown the person before the court did not have a way of paying the money.

"In this case the fines are being imposed not by the court but because of infringement fees for traffic infringements ... When those infringement fees are imposed, they are a set fee that have no regard to someone's ability to pay."

Judge Cooper said Mr Dixon was aged only 17 and did not have any income at all.

"In this case, it is appropriate to remit the fines and impose a substantial sentence of community work."

Outside the court, however, the teenager told The Daily Post he did have money.

He said he chose not to use it paying off his fines.

He said his "crew" were "Eastsiders" who lived at Rotorua's suburb of Owhata.

He claimed he committed crime, such as burglaries, to "get back at the pigs".

"I don't really care. I survive by the things that I do."

Earlier this year, Bay of Plenty MP Tony Ryall released figures that showed people in the region had almost $1.7 million worth of fines wiped in the last financial year - making up 14 percent of the total owed nationwide.

In the Auckland region, 8 percent of fines were remitted and in the Waikato 6 percent of fines were.

Nationally, the total amount wiped was $32 million, up from $29 million the year before and $23 million the year before that.

Mr Ryall has previously criticised the courts for wiping such large fines, saying it sent a wrong message to offenders, indicating that they need not bother paying.

He said yesterday he was appalled at the latest case of fines being wiped.

"I can't think of any person in Rotorua who earns $143 an hour. Where will this end?"

He said the law needed to be changed so that offenders knew when they got a fine it would stay with them until they paid it off.

"How are young people ever to get the message they will be held accountable if every time they get a fine it is wiped?"