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A "dumbbell'' offender has been given a change to prove late night drunken antics on his 18th birthday were just a one-off.
About 2am on March 24, the night of his birthday, Palmerston North student Kenneth Williams entered a Featherston St property.
He walked into a shed, picked up a pair of dumbbell weights and put them in his backpack.
Defence lawyer Richard Bedford said Williams had a lot to drink that night and could not recall what happened.
Williams was to be sentenced on a burglary charge in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday, but Judge Barbara Morris decided to give him another chance.
She ordered him to do 100 hours' community work and undergo alcohol and drug counselling.
If he completes that by May next year, he will not be convicted.
"If you get a conviction for burglary, [when] you try to get a job with anyone, I'm sure most people won't want to employ you,'' the judge said.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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