A Christchurch District Court judge calls a man who recently robbed a restaurant to have committed to a "pretty dumb burglary". The man is brought to a 13-month jail sentence.
Graeme Richard Brand, a 31-year-old Parklands man with an extensive criminal history, burgled Cortado's Restaurant on the corner of Somerfield and Strickland Streets, a restaurant located in the vicinity of the local police station, about 4am on January 24. He was caught nearby with a co-offender, immediately following the burglary.
Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave described it as a "pretty dumb burglary". He said, "This was a particularly stupid piece of dishonesty, the burglary of a restaurant virtually under the nose of the local police station".
Meanwhile, the 37-year-old co-offender, Michelle Joy Tagestad from St Martins, has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in March, Stuff New Zealand reported. The cash both suspects had stolen in the burglary from the restaurant was recovered.
Brand's defence counsel Todd Nicholls said that Brand committed the offense under financial pressure after Work and Income New Zealand cut off his benefit. Brand apparently apologised to the victims of the burglary, and said he was willing to meet them at a restorative justice meeting.
Judge Neave revealed 27 previous burglary convictions on Brand's record. At the time of his latest burglary, he was living under release conditions and he was also on bail for two petrol drive-off thefts.
He noted that Brand would need probable help from rehabilitation programmes, including an alcohol assessment. Brand did not have an alcohol problem, "but clearly when you do drink you make very poor decisions", the judge told him, according to the New Zealand News.
Brand acknowledged that he was the main offender. Judge Neave jailed him for 13 months over burglary and two thefts, and ordered him to pay $60 reparations for the stolen petrol.
