Mail thief braces for another backlash
A Christchurch woman says she is now living a “reclusive” existence without social media or a cell phone because of the furore when she was revealed as a rural mail thief last year.
Anna Leigh Hunter, 35, is expecting a repeat of the online bitterness she experienced a year ago, since her name suppression has now been lifted at her Christchurch District Court sentencing.
Last year she says she faced threats and abuse when her name was reported – before the suppression order was put in place – with comments all over social media, and a whole session of talkback radio devoted to her case.
Her defence counsel, Sunny Teki-Clark said she had been “vilified” and she now expected that if her suppression was lifted at her Christchurch District Court sentencing “that’s all going to happen again”.
“She expects she will be subject to a fresh round of abuse and threats,” Mr Teki-Clark told Judge Alistair Garland as he made a determined bid for the suppression to be made final. He said she was now “essentially living a reclusive life” because of the earlier backlash.
Hunter had admitted a representative charge detailing thefts from 104 different rural mailboxes between September 28 and October 11 last year. Items worth a total of $623 were taken, and most have been recovered – they were found in the car Hunter was using, or at her address.
She told police she thought it was “funny” when she was doing the thefts, but felt bad about it later. She told a probation officer before her sentencing that she did not know what had “possessed” her to do the thefts, and said she was remorseful.
Mr Teki-Clark said a mental health background that was a factor in the offending. She was now recovering significantly from substance abuse and from the effects of negative personal relationships. She had feelings of anxiety related to the negative reaction last time her name was published.
Judge Garland said Hunter had stolen mail from 104 rural mailboxes in the Selwyn District and around the outskirts of Christchurch. She had taken mail containing bank statements, bank cards, invoices, outgoing cheques for payment of invoices, registration labels, reward cards, personal letters, brochures, and property bought online.
“The financial value wasn’t high, but the inconvenience and the distress caused to the victims was high,” he said, accepting that she had been subjected to a very strong reaction by some members of the community when her name was reported. “Some of the community expressed their outrage.”
Since then, she had closed her social media accounts, had no cell phone, and the risks of facing the same reaction now were much less. “People who wish ill of you are no longer able to contact you by these means, as they did before. I am not satisfied that publication is likely to cause extreme hardship to you.”
He noted she told probation she had numerous social and health concerns. She was seen as having low self-esteem and poor decision-making ability. She did not meet the criteria for depressive or anxiety disorder. She had not used methamphetamine or alcohol for five years.
She already had outstanding unpaid fines of nearly $5000 that she was paying off at $15 a week.
He refused to continue the name suppression order that had been imposed in February, part way through the court process.
He order Hunter to do 100 hours of community work and placed her on supervision for a year. He ordered her to pay reparations of $623.
Category: Focus
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