CAR CONVERTER CAUGHT …AGAIN

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 17, 25 September 1984, Page 3

CAR CONVERTER CAUGHT …AGAIN

A few days after the August sitting of the Ohakune District Court a certain well-known racing correspondent had his car stolen ... allegedly by a 17year old youth who had appeared on a charge of converting a car in Kawerau a month earlier. This racing man had left his vehicle in the parking lot next to the Cedar Service Station (where he leaves it most days outside his office) and strolled across the road to the TAB (where else?) He returned a few minutes later to find his car had disappeared. After checking with colleagues at the service station and with members of his family — who might have borrowed the car for a few minutes — he reported the missing vehicle to the police. Local police sergeant Neil Coker alerted police in Turangi and Taumarunui after someone reported seeing the missing car heading in that direction. Turangi police saw the stolen car go past while they were refuelling their own vehicle and they gave chase. They cornered the stolen vehicle, ironically enough, when it entered the blind road heading to the Hautu Prison Farm. The driver left the car and attempted to escape by running across the paddocks but was caught and arrested. Asked who the culprit was, our racing correspondent replied that he was someone who had in fact come down to Ohakune from up north to appear on a car conversion charge at the District Court only a week before and "got the usual 'slap on the wrist' but then needed a car to return home to Kawerau!"