A man who committed what a Dunedin District Court judge said was premeditated, blatant, repetitive and serious offending narrowly escaped a jail term yesterday.
Mohammed Rizwan Din Khan Hussain (28), of Auckland, was for sentence for theft of more than $77,000 of fuel when he owned Sawyers Bay Motors in Dunedin.
Hussain used his experience of working for a company that serviced North Island fuel pumps to supply thousands of litres of stolen fuel for his petrol station. The fuel was taken from Pak'n Save, South Dunedin, and a Caltex truck stop in Fryatt St.
Despite the crime, a late guilty plea, a pre-sentence report Judge Kevin Phillips called ''nothing short of appalling'' showing Hussain had no remorse, no feeling of responsibility, and a concern only for himself, he was sentenced to eight months' home detention, and 150 hours' community work.
''I'm quite sure the community believe you should go to prison,'' Judge Phillips told Hussain, who looked downcast, and appeared to be in tears during sentencing yesterday.
Despite arriving at the sentencing with that view, Judge Phillips said arguments by Hussain's counsel, Auckland lawyer Arlan Arman, an agreement from the defendant to pay Pak'n Save reparation of $39,584, and a clean criminal history, meant the sentence that started at two years, six months in prison was cut to eight months' home detention.
''I have to take particularly into account you are a first offender,'' Judge Phillips said.
Despite that, Hussain needed to understand the seriousness of his crimes.
''It needs to be brought home to you, you were well and truly caught.
''No doubt, in your community you have lost face - so you should.''
Hussain bought Sawyers Bay Motors in 2011, but paid for only one shipment of 2000 litres of fuel.
The court heard he never had a contract to purchase fuel.
Police said he used his technological knowledge to bypass paying for fuel at certain fuel pumps.
His offending was spotted by the owner of Pak'n Save, South Dunedin, on October 14, 2013.
The owner was at the pump control shed and saw the pump Hussain was parked beside was offline.
He noticed a pump nozzle going through the window of Hussain's Mazda van, which had two purpose-built tanks in the rear capable of holding 750 litres of fuel.
When asked what he was doing, Hussain said he was getting fuel for his boat and then left as the owner went to check the status of the pump.
The owner later checked for other times the pumps had been put offline and discovered it had happened 35 times since December 2011.
The offending resulted in 18,307 litres of fuel - valued at $38,142 - stolen from Pak'n Save. Police obtained video surveillance of the last five thefts.
Hussain also owned a flat deck truck capable of carrying up to four 1000-litre storage tanks on the back.
He took fuel from the Chevron-owned Caltex truck stop in Fryatt St, Dunedin, with a total value of $39,000.
Police analysed his bank and travel records, showing Hussain travelled from Auckland to Dunedin to steal fuel for his petrol station.
Hussain sought through his counsel suppression of any images in court, but Judge Phillips allowed media to take photographs.
Mr Arman used as an argument Hussain's mother in Fiji had had a heart attack, but Judge Phillips said there was no other evidence, and he took what Hussain said ''with a grain of salt''.
Judge Phillips noted Hussain had ''expressed an unwillingness to complete home detention,'' and warned any breach would mean jail.
Crown counsel Marie Grills said Chevron was not seeking a reparation order.
