Burglar films himself wrecking CCTV camera before robbing Motueka Salvation Army store

Two large frozen turkeys, vintage jewellery, watches and a “rare ornamental baby” were among some of the items Richard Mann took from a Salvation Army store.

But the 52-year-old thief admitted to police the “stupid” thing he did was getting caught on film while ripping a CCTV camera and sensor light off the wall of a Red Cross community house.

Mann, who has an extensive criminal history, has been in custody since he breached bail in January, three days after he had been released from an earlier remand in custody on the burglary and theft charges.

Today in the Nelson District Court he was sentenced on charges he admitted earlier of receiving goods worth more than $1000, stealing a car worth more than $1000, three burglary charges, two shoplifting charges, breach of community work and breach of supervision, the last of which was imposed by the Greymouth District Court.

He also received another 12 months of supervision, given that the time already spent in custody would have met the punitive element of a jail term, Judge David Ruth said.

It was 4am on Christmas Eve last year when Mann made his “stupid” move. He was outside the Red Cross Community House in Motueka, stepped up onto the veranda and ripped the CCTV camera and sensor light off the wall.

“Images of the defendant were recorded prior to them being taken off the wall,” the police summary said.

But that was far from the start - or end of his offending.

On November 6 last year Mann was seen driving a black Hyundai Tucson through Motueka, which had been reported stolen from a carpark in the Motueka Valley the month before. He was stopped by police and told them he’d “bought it from a friend”, but refused to say who that friend was.

Mann then told the police he had no idea the vehicle had been stolen.

Several weeks later Mann noticed a generator worth $2000 on the back of a ute parked in a public carpark in Motueka. He lifted it off the back of the vehicle, hid it in nearby bushes then retrieved it later that night.

On December 17 Mann walked into the storeroom of a Nelson supermarket, grabbed a trolley and walked out with $240 worth of gift baskets.

The next day, he was in a supermarket in Motueka and loaded $327 worth of groceries into a trolley before concealing the items in his clothing, and a $10 bottle of cider in a shoulder bag, and walked out of the store.

Then, just after midnight on Saturday, January 21 this year, Mann went to the Salvation Army store in Motueka and rummaged through the clothing bins outside before heading to the rear of the building.

He found his way inside and shifted the internal CCTV cameras away from the direction they were pointing, before selecting what amounted to more than $1500 worth of items and leaving the store.

The list of items included a first aid kit, about 20 watches, vintage and antique jewellery, three large vases, a “rare ornamental baby”, and two large frozen turkeys.

He told the police he couldn’t remember doing the burglary but agreed it was him in the footage.

In sentencing Mann, Ruth said that despite the requests for reparation from his victims, “there was no prospect of it being paid”.

He said intensive supervision would hopefully provide a means by which Mann could be rehabilitated.