Dieback case: Track user guilty
AWest Auckland man has been found guilty of flouting kauri dieback rules in a precedent-setting prosecution.
Robert Armitstead, in his 60s, appeared in Waita¯kere District Court in September for a judge-alone trial before Judge Lisa Tremewan.
The court heard he was caught several times on an infrared bush camera in 2019 walking on closed Waita¯kere Ranges Regional Park tracks off Scenic Drive in Titirangi in breach of restrictions designed to protect the native trees.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching track closure restrictions but denied two other charges laid under the council’s Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw.
Judge Tremewan handed down verdicts in the case yesterday, finding Armitstead guilty on both charges.
He was remanded for sentencing on May 21 and could be fined up to $60,000. It is the first prosecution of its kind.
The court heard Armitstead was first caught entering a closed track on May 14, 2019, when he was spotted by kauri dieback compliance officer Vanda Karolczak at Greenwoods Corner, off Scenic Drive. Karolczak told the court she was driving home down Scenic Drive after her shift at Arataki Visitor Centre when she spotted two vehicles near an access track.
She stopped and photographed the two vehicles’ licence plates, then noticed a man entering the track.
She called out but he didn’t stop. When she called out again the man turned around and she recognised him as Armitstead, who she had known for about 15 years.
“I said, ‘You can’t be in there Bob — it’s closed for kauri dieback. The sign’s right here’.”
Armitstead allegedly replied that he’d spoken to council staff who’d assured him there were no kauri on this section of the track and the soil had not been tested.
“He said, ‘So mate I’m going in’. He just turned and walked away. I was quite shocked.”
Motion-activated cameras recorded Armitstead on the track several times between August and September.