Jailed for stealing paua

Wellington: A Wellington man caught stealing 50 paua from a marine reserve has been jailed for two months.

Carl Patterson (31) collected the paua from the Taputeranga Marine Reserve on Wellington’s south coast in July 2019.

When he was confronted by a member of the public he dropped his catch bag and drove away.

He will serve his prison time concurrently with an 18month sentence on unrelated charges.