Store flooded after drunken antics
Drunken hijinks have led to an $18,000 damage bill from flooding at the Harvey Norman store in Moorhouse Avenue.
Thirty-one-year old Ricky Knight Baker was ordered to pay his $9000 half-share of the damage at his sentencing for intentional damage in the Christchurch District Court.
He has also lost his weekend social life for three months because he will be staying home from Friday evening to Monday morning under community detention for that charge, selling cannabis, and $6130 of unpaid fines.
Baker was with friends in a carpark atop the Harvey Norman building early in the morning, when he and a co-offender turned on high pressure hoses and left them running full-on.
The water flooded the carpark and got through to the store below where it caused $18,000 damage to electronic items.
Defence counsel Louise Denton said Baker blamed intoxication for the antics that caused the damage. He had believed that some cut-off system would shut down the hoses.
Judge Mike Turner said Baker had primarily been before the courts on drugs charges since 2011. Before that his offending was alcohol-related. He had been continuously paying off fines since 2001.
He told Baker: “It is time you took stock of your life and led a pro-social and crime-free lifestyle.”
He imposed community detention totalling three months, supervision for nine months, and reparation of $9000. Baker will have to undergo assessment, treatment, and counselling as directed, to address his addiction issues.
Category: Focus
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