Identity thief went through court appearance
A North Island man is hoping the police will drop his drink-driving prosecution because he wasn’t the man who did the drinking, nor the driving, nor appeared in the Christchurch District Court.
The Waikato man had lawyer James Rapley appearing for him in the Christchurch court today, to apply for a rehearing date.
The man, Thomas Dennis Tame-Ponui Hepi, had been granted a rehearing after taking the case to appeal after he found out he had been prosecuted and disqualified from driving.
Mr Rapley told Judge Gary MacAskill today that Mr Hepi had produced his work timesheets to show that it was physically impossible for him to be in Christchurch when the drink-driving happened.
The timesheets show it was also not possible for him to have been at court when someone appeared in his place, pleaded guilty, and was disqualified.
Someone has used his identity to avoid being prosecuted, both at the time of the breath-testing, and the court appearance.
Judge MacAskill excused Hepi’s appearance so that he did not have to come down from the North Island for today’s hearing, and he also won’t have to be in Christchurch for the case review hearing on September 29.
Mr Rapley told the court he was hoping that the police would decide to drop the prosecution before the case review takes place.
Category: News
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