Judge hears emotional appeal from fisherman

A fisherman at risk of losing the tool of his trade after being caught trout fishing without the proper licence gave an impassioned explanation from a Taranaki court dock yesterday.

Justyn Leonard Selby told the New Plymouth District Court he had a licence to catch trout throughout the country but was unaware this excluded the Taupo¯ area, where he was caught fishing last year.

As a potential penalty, he faced losing his fishing rod.

‘‘I have Asperger’s syndrome. I thought I wasn’t doing anything wrong and this heavy-handed guy was all angry and aggressive towards me in an area I was unfamiliar with,’’ he told Judge Garry Barkle.

Fish & Game New Zealand provides regulations for fishing and game bird hunting throughout New Zealand except Taupo¯ , where fishing is administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

A Taupo¯ specific fishing licence is necessary to fish for trout in Lake Taupo¯ and surrounding rivers and lakes.

Selby was on the verge of tears as he wrapped up the prepared letter he had read aloud, making clear his actions were not calculated.

‘‘I knew I couldn’t produce the licence I had already bought and so I just wanted him to leave me alone.’’

He said he had bought a trout fishing licence in June 2018 and was issued with a temporary paper licence until a card was sent to him.

He said it had been destroyed in water and so he did not have it on him when two

DOC rangers approached him while he was fishing in Taupo¯ in August 2018.

‘‘I felt the officers had become very unreasonable when I couldn’t produce my licence and they became very heavyhanded.

‘‘They approached me by surprise.

‘‘I was lost for words at that time.’’ Selby’s rod and reel were taken and he was upset that as a beneficiary on a limited income he was also faced with a fine and that a conviction might impede his ability to gain fishing licences in the future.

‘‘I have already learned a very important lesson.’’

Selby was facing sentence on previously admitted charges, brought against him by DOC, of breaching the Conservation Act and offending against a warrant officer.

The court heard he gave the fishery officers a fake name, which somewhat baffled Judge Barkle.

But Selby explained that at the time he became ‘‘very flustered because of my Asperger’s’’.

Defence lawyer Julian Hannam asked for any enforced fine to be limited and further argued against the prosecution’s order to seek forfeiture of Selby’s rod.

‘‘I would ask the court to consider whether that in the circumstances is necessary, particularly given that he had a licence to fish the rest of the whole country except for Taupo¯ ,’’ Hannam said.

Judge Barkle said there were fairly strong mitigating circumstances surrounding the matter.

On the two charges, he convicted Selby and fined him a total of $1000.

He did not order the forfeiture of the rod.