Farmer told to pay up for stolen petrol or go to jail

A former dairy farmer was told he was off to jail unless he paid up for the petrol he stole during a service station drive-off.

In the New Plymouth District Court yesterday, Judge Allan Roberts sentenced Cole Iwikau to 200 hours community work for the theft of petrol from Shell Inglewood on October 4.

He crashed his car shortly after and admitted the related charge of careless driving.

Three weeks later he was back driving drunk, the judge said.

Iwikau was disqualified from driving for a total of 18 months, and ordered to pay police and medical fees totalling $318 at $5 a week.

Reparation for the petrol theft must be paid, the judge said.

"If you don't pay you go to jail for 28 days. You are not leaving court until the money is paid over."

With that, Iwikau reached into his pocket and gave his lawyer, Julian Hannam $40.

Iwikau was also issued with a final warning that if he again drove drunk he would go to jail.

- © Fairfax NZ News