Hard line on unpaid fines Victims suffer as criminals fail to fulfil orders to pay up
Palmerston North criminals owe more than $13 million in court fines, with one offender owing almost $100,000.
Figures obtained by the Manawatu Standard under the Official Information Act reveal $13.4m is owed by offenders from fines imposed at Palmerston North District Court, and one 26-year-old man owes $96,900 of that.
He hasn’t made a payment in almost five years.
Figures also showed $2.5m was owed directly to victims of crime in the form of reparation, as of November 30.
One such victim is Michelle Gordon, whose car was stolen in January last year.
Miss Gordon’s car was recovered by police in Ashhurst, before she was aware it was missing. The seats had been cut, the glovebox ripped out, and her 2-year-old son’s pushchair and car seat were missing.
Miss Gordon said the man who stole her car was 17 at the time, and also committed a raft of other offences, for which he went to jail. He was sentenced to pay $2000 reparation to Miss Gordon but so far she has not seen a cent of it.
‘‘It frustrates me that I’m never going to see this money and I’ve had to get into debt just to replace what he’s stolen.
‘‘And it seems like the courts can’t do anything to make them pay.’’
Courts Minister Chester Borrows said new measures, the first of which will be in force in three weeks, would give courts greater powers to enforce fine payments.
‘‘The court’s enforcement powers will shortly be enhanced following the passing of the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill last year, and work is under way to implement the provisions within that bill.
‘‘The enhancements provide additional incentives for people to pay and include the ability for unpaid fines to affect a person’s credit rating and for people to lose their driver’s licence due to unpaid traffic-related fines or reparation.’’
Mr Borrows said most of the changes would not come into effect until next year, but people could expect outstanding fines to start being passed on to credit agencies from February 13.
Collections general manager Bryre Patchell said that when a fine was imposed, court staff always sought payment in full in the first instance, but negotiated sustainable payment arrangements when necessary.
‘‘Enforcement can include clamping vehicles, seizing and selling
Palmerston North woman Michelle Gordon, with her 2-year-old son Tyler, still hasn’t received any court-ordered reparation payments from the teenager who stole her car in January last year. property, making compulsory deductions from people’s income . . . and preventing overseas travel.
‘‘The decision to remit fines . . . is generally only considered when enforcement action has been unsuccessful and when further enforce- ment action is unlikely to succeed,’’ he said.
In the case of the man who owed $96,900, fines were imposed for charges related to ‘‘property damage and environmental pollution’’, as well as theft and related offences.
Mr Patchell would not release the date of court proceedings ‘‘to protect the privacy of this individual’’.
‘‘The court has been unable to collect payment since [March 6, 2007] as the offender was imprisoned and later changed address without noti- fying collections [staff],’’ he said.
In the 2010-11 financial year, the courts collected $251.5m of the $666.5m in fines that were imposed nationwide. The total debt has dropped since June 2009, when more than $806m was owed.