Shoplifting financed drugs habit
A brazen shoplifter who was stealing trolley-loads of expensive goods to pay for his drugs habit will serve an extra year in jail.
Mark Andrew McGowan, 32, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 12 months prison on top of the sentence he has already been recalled to prison to serve.
He has nine pages of computer print-out listing his criminal record, and was using opiates while on parole from prison for an earlier jail term.
On March 5 McGowan walked out of a Hornby supermarket with a trolley of goods worth over $500, on March 16 he got away with a basket of meat worth $400.
On March 21 he stole steak from a meat retailer, and next day filled a basket worth $440 of goods from a hardware store and ran off with store security in pursuit.
On March 29 he was stopped leaving a Hornby supermarket with goods worth $989 in a trolley, and in April he took steaks worth $250 from a meat retailer.
Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar sentenced McGowan on seven charges of theft, and one of breaching his parole conditions.
He said McGowan was using morphine on a daily basis, and was being driven to the shops he shoplifted from. He was exchanging the goods for money for drugs.
McGowan had a nine page criminal history for dishonesty offending, Judge Kellar said, and his pre-sentence report said he had poor compliance with community-based sentences, a high risk of re-offending, and a high level risk of causing harm while using drugs.
He sentenced McGowan to further jail time with reparation payments of $1979.
Police had originally asked that McGowan be disqualified from driving because a car was used in the shoplifting but Judge Kellar denied the request.
Category: News
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