Dumped couch’s cellphone bonanza

‘‘Some of the stuff I’ve seen on the phone – police will be over the moon, basically. [One text] was, like, your son has sold mine some dodgy dope, and all this sort of stuff.’’

Dave Werder

St Peter’s Tennis Club manager

A crook who illegally dumped a couch in a Hamilton tennis club car park will be looking for his phone.

That’s because he dropped it in the couch.

And the Sony cellphone contained texts which link the owner to criminal activity – and not just the illegal dumping of clapped-out furniture.

Dave Werder, a manager at the St Peter’s Tennis Club, where the couch was dumped, looked through the phone.

Werder said while he couldn’t elaborate, texts suggested the owner could be involved in drugs.

‘‘Some of the stuff I’ve seen on the phone – police will be over the moon, basically.

‘‘[A text] was, like, your son has sold mine some dodgy dope, and all this sort of stuff.’’

And the offending couch dumper is clearly the owner of the phone, Werder said.

‘‘It’s also got a message that they sent to someone saying: ‘We’re just going out to dump this effing couch.’ ’’

The phone even had addresses that should lead police straight to the owner.

The worn black leather couch was found in the club’s car park on Thursday morning.

That afternoon, a tennis coach had a rummage through the cushions, looking for identification. The coach came up trumps when he found the phone, which probably cost between $200 and $300.

‘‘They probably don’t know that’s where they lost it,’’ Werder said.

‘‘They’ve obviously dropped it [the couch off] and the phone has dropped out and they haven’t even noticed it.’’

Fines for illegally dumping rubbish range from $100 to $400, imposed under the Litter Act (1979). Clearly that’s the least of the phone owner’s problems.

Werder handed the phone over to police on Friday.

Waikato Police Senior Sergeant Mike Henwood confirmed the case is under investigation.

And the tennis club is having the last laugh.

‘‘If you’re going to dump stuff, don’t leave your cellphone behind,’’ Werder said.

As for the couch, it remains in the car park and is free to a good home.

‘‘Couch going free, basically – cellphone doesn’t go with it.’’

Hamilton tennis club St Peter’s is having the last laugh over this couch which was illegally dumped there – the owner’s cellphone was found under a cushion.