Mother driven to steal for school costs, court told

The need for money to buy school stationery drove a mother to steel scrap metal, Tauranga District Court was told today.

Kelly Jane Carter, 32, pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary when she appeared before Judge Paul Geoghegan.

Sergeant Mark Graham said Carter and an associate drove to the Tauranga suburb of Bethlehem at 8pm on February 10.

They parked the car and walked 200 metres to the building they were targeting.

Using a crowbar, they removed board placed over the doors and searched the still-to-be-completed house for copper pipes and scrap metal.

Lawyer Trever Leigh said Carter had since described her actions as stupid and senseless.

She was in an "extremely stressful" financial situation and needed money to pay for her child's stationery for the new school year.

Judge Geoghegan accepted the burglary was totally out of character.

"It's a real shame," he told the first offender.

But in a letter to the court, the house owner said Carter was "just one of a string of people" who had helped themselves or damaged that particular property.

"It is just about as distressing to him as what you are going through," Judge Geoghegan said.

He sentenced Carter to 100 hours of community work.

-NZPA