A good Samaritan act by a young mother ended with the teenage hitchhiker she picked up in Dunedin allegedly stealing her car.
About 3pm on Wednesday, Sala Ahlbrandt saw the 16-year-old Oamaru youth hitching a ride at the end of the motorway and felt sorry for him.
''It was windy and cold and he wasn't really dressed for it,'' she told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
The teenager looked ''normal, fine''.
''I never thought in a million years he would be a problem. He spoke nicely and did not look that young,'' she said.
As they travelled north, she asked him if she could call at the Karitane playcentre to pick up her twin 2-year-olds, then she would drop him in Waikouaiti.
He said that was fine.
''It was one of those days I forgot to take my keys - I never thought anything bad would happen.''
When she and her children got back to the car: ''It was like a dream; it was gone.''
She ran back to the playcentre and asked a teacher to phone police.
One of the teachers gave her a ride home.
Mrs Ahlbrandt hoped the car would be returned, which it was when police apprehended the youth near Weston later that day.
What she was missing was her handbag, which had her driver's licence, credit card and a lot of other items ''women carry in their big bags''.
Sergeant Tony Woodbridge, of Oamaru, described the youth as ''a mini crime wave''.
He said police saw the youth driving the woman's Toyota Corona in District Rd, between Oamaru and Weston, about 7.20pm on Wednesday.
On the drive to Oamaru, the teenager threw out two child seats and a handbag from the car, Sgt Woodbridge said.
The child seats were recovered at Shag Point but police were appealing to anyone who found a mobile phone, a handbag and its contents or other items on State Highway 1 between Waikouaiti and Oamaru to contact them.
The teenager was also charged with the theft of tobacco on Wednesday, theft of tobacco from another Dunedin shop on November 9 and driving off without paying from an Oamaru service station on November 10.
He was remanded without plea from the Dunedin Youth Court to appear in the Oamaru Youth Court next week.
