Pies fly at dairy in eftpos dispute

Pies flew at a Taranaki dairy during an argument between a hungry woman and the shop owner, a court heard.

Stacy Patricia McFadyen went to the Sunshine Dairy in Ha¯ wera at 7.35am on Sunday morning to buy a pie and some cigarettes, but her eftpos card was twice declined as a means of payment.

Because McFadyen had already opened the wrapper of the pie, the owner of the dairy wanted money for the food and kept her eftpos card, police prosecutor Sergeant Steve Hickey told the town’s district court.

An argument started and McFadyen threw the pie at the dairy owner.

A pie was then thrown back at her.

After this, McFadyen reached over a rack of chewing gum, grabbed the woman by her hair and started to shake her around, he said.

The victim was let go and went to get her husband and to call the police, he said.

McFadyen took two more pies out of the warmer and threw one at the back door.

She also knocked over a cardboard stand of potato chips, making a mess on the floor.

The owner locked McFadyen inside the shop until police arrived.

In explanation, McFadyen told police all she had wanted was a pie and to go home and sleep.

The victim would not give her eftpos card back, so she pulled her hair, Hickey said.

In a separate incident, McFadyen was caught driving on March 19, just six days after she was disqualified from driving for six months by the court on March 13.

In Ha¯ wera District Court yesterday she pleaded guilty to charges of assault, disorderly behaviour and disqualified driving.

Judge Chris Sygrove remanded her for sentencing on May 29 and ordered a pre-sentence report.

- By Catherine Groenestein