Thief caught in act by hidden camera

A THIEVING cleaner was rumbled after his employer set up a covert camera to catch him in the act, a court has heard.

Tyson Lee McKenzie (20) was working at the Otago Daily Times in November when staff noticed money going missing from a drawer.

The cash had come from honesty box sales of the newspaper from around the city and was in labelled bags.

Because of the mysterious losses, the money was moved to another area of the Stuart St premises but it was not long before the thefts began again.

When the company set up a hidden camera on January 12, McKenzie was recorded taking three bags containing $106.

He was dismissed shortly afterwards. He told police he ‘‘wasn’t really thinking at the time’’.

The theft took place only months after a more serious offence that happened at a party in Forth St.

McKenzie began acting aggressively around a woman to whom he had just been introduced and she felt uncomfortable enough to go indoors to get away from him.

The defendant pursued her and searched the property.

At the party, he punched a man in the face twice; the second blow knocking him backwards on to a couch.

The victim bled profusely from a gash to his mouth, the Dunedin District Court heard on Wednesday, and he suffered sustained pain from a fracture to a tooth which required two operations.

For five days he was unable to eat or talk and he required time off work, Judge Phillips said.

When McKenzie was questioned by police, days after the incident, he said he was too drunk to remember what happened.

He later pleaded guilty to charges of injuring by unlawful act and theft.

But the judge said that did not match up with what he told Probation before sentencing, when he took issue with the description of his exchange with the woman at the party.

‘‘I find it strange to understand how you can remember some things and not others,’’ he said.

Defence counsel Jim Takas said his client had learned his lesson and would not be back in the dock.

‘‘He accepts this was just stupid, mindless violence,’’ Mr

Takas said.

Judge Phillips ordered McKenzie pay $2429 to the victim of the party attack and $106 to Allied Press, despite his suspicions the total stolen sum was larger.

The defendant will spent the next four months on community detention (on a weekend curfew) and was sentenced to 220 hours’ community work.

The judge also imposed 12 months’ supervision for McKenzie to address substance abuse and anger management issues.