Penniless tourist gets second prison term

Press, 1 February 1986, Page 9

Penniless tourist gets second prison term

PA Auckland A penniless. English tourist was yesterday failed for the second time in a month on false-pre-tence charges. ' The ; ; tourist, Leslie Stephen Doy, aged 29; was sentenced to six weeks jail by Judge Callander in the District Court at Auckland.

, Doy had earlier admitted a charge of obtaining $561 credit by false pretence from the Hyatt Kingsgate Hotel, between January 21 and 23. Three weeks ago, he had been convicted on a similar charge, and with failing to pay a $lOO fine, $35 court costs, and $132 reparation for a meal and drinks ordered from another Auckland hotel. Doy spent five days in jail on those charges. In his earlier court appearances, the presiding Judges made ho deportation order, saying taxpayers should not have to

foot the bill for sending Doy back to Britain. Doy, representing himself in court yesterday, said immigration officers last week seemed ready to prepare deportation procedures.

He asked the Judge to take into account how he voluntarily told the Hyatt Kingsgate management that he could not pay. “I felt really L had caused enough distress to -the hotel industry of Auckland,” he said. “But the fact is, I could have stayed on for two or three weeks, and run up bills of thousands of dollars.”

Doy said he had no money.

The Judge told Doy it looked as though he would be deported.

He said the six-week prison term would allow the Minister of Immigration to decide what action to take.

The Immigration Division of the Labour Department said yesterday it

appeared that Doy had not committed any immigration offences. It said Doy had told officers that his passport had been lost or stolen, but it was presumed he had a normal six-month entry permit, which would expire in May. The senior supervising immigration officer in Auckland, Mr Bruce Jenkins, said later that unless investigations showed Doy did not get a valid six* month permit when he entered New Zealand, he could not be deported as an overstayer. . Foreigners could also be deported if tried for crimes in New Zealand.

He said that the presiding judge could recommend deportation, usually after any prison sentence, and the Minister of Immigration would make the final decision. Mr Jenkins said that option was generally used for crimes involving long prison sentences.