Fined $300 for theft

Taupo Times, Volume 19, Issue 98, 17 December 1970, Page 6

Fined $300 for theft

A 31-year-old Taupo barman, Maru Welbe Maniapoto, was fined $300, court costs $5, and ordered to make restitution of $42 when he appeared for sentence on a charge of theft as a servant before Mr W. R. Birks S.M. in the Rotorua Magistrate's Court on Tuesday. Maniapoto pleaded guilty to the offence, which took place at Taupo's De Brett Thermal Hotel, at the last sitting of the Taupo court and was remanded to Rotorua for a probation officer's report and sentence. . Maniapoto was represented by Mr D. G. P. Russell,

who said his client had had two earlier appearances on similar charge s, and it was apparent he had not learned to handle money properly. He had found himself in financial difficulties by over-commit-ting himself. Mr Birks said Maniapoto bore a respected name, which he had for the third time dragged in the dust by yielding to temptation. As well as the fine Maniapoto was placed on probation for three years. Should the defendant pass up the last chance he was being given he could guess where he would be, said Mr Birks. Also facing sentence on a similar charge involving the theft of $11 while employed in the same hotel was Tahae Pitiroi, 22, barman. He, too, had pleaded guilty at Taupo and was released on probation for two years and directed to make restitution of $11. Mr Russell, for Pitiroi, said his client was a first offender and had received a shock as a result of the charge.