Tourists’ ‘backpacker culture’ mistake lands them in court
Three young German tourists say they have become unintentional car thieves through a quirk of backpacker culture.
They say they thought they were allowed to take a van left at Christchurch Airport with the keys in the driver’s door.
They said after being dealt with by the Christchurch District Court that they had been told that backpackers left vehicles they could not sell at the airports for other backpackers to take and use.
They spotted the van in what they said was a non-rental area of the carpark and took it for a few days travelling, but then found they were arrested for unlawfully taking a rental van that had been returned earlier with the keys left in the driver’s door.
They were held in custody and brought to the Court House today by the police. Their situation was explained to Judge Noel Walsh in court and the trio chatted about it outside afterwards.
They all pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully taking the $10,000 camper van on Tuesday. The van belonged to Lucky Rentals.
The three were Hans Lorenz Steinfurth, 20, and Friedrich Wiesbach, 21, both of Radebeul, and Isabelle Caroline Manna, 21, of Stephanskirchen.
They all appeared in the dock together before Judge Noel Walsh who was told that the case needed to be dealt with today because they were continuing their journey.
Diversion for first offenders was not available at such short notice, and no restorative justice meeting could be held in the time available.
The judge bailed the three at the request of duty lawyer Michael Knowles, to enable them to go to the bank and get the money they owed the rental van company. They would have to return to the Court House with the money in two hours, they were told.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Kathy Pomfrett told the court the rental van was dropped off at the airport carpark by its previous hirer at 7.30am on Tuesday, and the keys were left in the driver’s door.
The German trio went to the carpark three hours later and looked around for a vehicle they could take and eventually headed off in the van.
Once they paid $602 to the court, as reparations to the rental van company, they were convicted and discharged and allowed to leave. They just had to wait at the Court House while the police told the rental company that the van had been paid for and the trio could get back all their belongings which were still in the van.
The three have apologised. Steinfurth explained outside that they did not know it was a rental van, and they had been told by other travellers in Australia about backpackers leaving cars with the keys in at the airports when they could not sell them.
They would have used the car for a couple of days and then returned it to the airport and left the keys.
Wiesbach explained that the vehicle had no personal belongings in it, but did contain some “old, smelly food”.
They had not realised it was a rental because it was not parked in the area for rentals, said Manna.
They will now continue their tour with less drama – and hopefully much less custody – and plan to leave New Zealand on May 4.
Category: News
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