Thrillseeker thief cops jail warning

A Timaru woman has been ordered to repay more than $1000 to three Stafford St retailers who fell victim to her shoplifting.

Lorreen Renee Ritchie must contribute $20 a week towards making up for the $399 worth of goods she stole from Kidstuff, $524.93 from Rebel Sport, and $267.98 from Farmers between June 4 and October 15, 2020.

Ritchie, 40, was sentenced to four months’ home detention and ordered to pay $1181.96 in reparation when she appeared before Judge Tom Gilbert in the Timaru District Court yesterday.

She had pleaded guilty to four charges of theft, breaching bail, and resisting police.

‘‘You have an extensive history of shoplifting . . . You steal for the thrill of it as much as anything,’’ Judge Gilbert said.

‘‘You basically just need to get your act together and stop taking what’s not yours. It’s that easy.’’

Police prosecutor Sergeant Ian Howard said Ritchie’s first target was Kidstuff – where she pulled clothing from display racks, coat hangers still attached, and tucked them under her top or in her handbag, about 2.15pm on June 4.

She declined to make a statement when questioned.

‘‘However, she commented that she was tucking herself in at the store and did not steal anything,’’ Howard said.

Ritchie took a pile of clothing into a changing room at Rebel Sport and emerged to return a single white shirt to the display rack, before leaving the store with a hoodie and four pairs of tights stashed in a backpack, about 2.30pm on July 11.

‘‘A member of staff checked the changing room after the defendant left, and found multiple electronic tags discarded,’’ Howard said.

She returned to the shop to steal a backpack the next day, then four days after that took two blankets from Farmers.

The thefts were before the court, with a condition of her bail that she not enter the Timaru CBD, when she again stole clothing from Rebel Sport, about 1.30pm on October 15.

Police executed a search warrant at Ritchie’s home two weeks later, seizing the bag used in the burglary.

The same day, police located Ritchie and advised her she was under arrest.

Howard said she started to walk away. Two officers told her to stop and took hold of her, and she started struggling.

‘‘As [a sergeant] went to restrain her, the defendant kicked out repeatedly and threw three closed-fist punches towards [the sergeant].’’

Judge Gilbert said Ritchie had avoided a jail sentence by a ‘‘narrow margin’’.

Jamie Mewland (pictured) was gobsmacked when he landed a kingfish which was more than a metre long at Caroline Bay.

The Fonterra worker said he thought he was tussling with a shark when he called his cousin over to help him drag it in on Sunday night.

They struggled for five minutes to bring the big fish in about 7pm, he said.

‘‘We’d been fishing with a flounder net,’’ Mewland said.

They usually caught elephant fish or flounder in the Bay, so he said it was a bit of a surprise to get a kingfish.

He did not weigh the fish but estimated it weighed more than 30 kilograms.

‘‘We smoked it and divvied it