May 21, 2008

Week's wages for toilet stop in shop doorway

?Taking a toilet stop in a High Street shop doorway has cost a 20-year-old Wigram man more than a week's wages.

Christchurch District Court Judge Colin Doherty noted that it was the second time in a year that Joel Robin Gower had committed a similar offence.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Berryman said Gower had urinated on the glass front door of the shop about 11.30pm on May 15, at a time when people were walking past.

Judge Doherty asked Gower how much he earned a week, and was told it was about $450.

He said Gower's guilty plea to the charge of behaving in an offensive manner in a public place had saved him $100, but he imposed a fine of $450 and court costs of $130.

"That's more than a week's wages. I hope it will deter you," said the judge.

"It will," said Gower, who had told the police the offence arose from having too much to drink.

The arrest may have been part of the Christchurch police's new "broken windows" approach to crime and disorder in the central city, though in this case the window was wet rather than broken.