Teens escape conviction for firework damage

Two teenagers who tossed a firework onto a Christchurch house roof causing $62,000 damage were discharged without conviction today.

But Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie said it was ``not a soft touch'' as the pair had spent months working for Christchurch City Mission and seen what poverty and misery was all about.

Richard David Ferguson and Seth William Rawsthorne, both aged 17 at the time, pleaded guilty in December to charges of recklessly causing damage - charges that had been downgraded from arson.

They were given until today to make amends with charitable work and make donations.

The pair had been working for the mission and each had donated $1000 in total to four charities: the mission, Ronald McDonald House, Nurse Maude, and CanTeen.

The court was told the charges arose a week after Guy Fawkes night in 2008, when there had been a celebration at the end of the school year.

They threw a firework on the roof of a house and setting alight building paper poking out into guttering resulting in $62,000 damage.

The owner of the house did not want the boys jailed and Judge Crosbie said throwing the firework was an act of stupidity.

He told the youths they had now been given a chance to get on with their lives in a meaningful way and not to come back in contact with the courts.

Defence counsel Gerald Lascelles said the owner of the house had not wanted the money from the boys, and had suggested the donations to the charities.

- NZPA