Cane Norton Kelland (27) ended a month-long dishonesty spree in spectacularly brazen style on October 1 last year, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
At 3.15pm the defendant entered Mitre 10 Mega Dunedin, where he used snips to cut the cable ties off a pair of bolt-cutters, stashing them in his backpack and leaving without paying.
Moments later, outside the store, he used the stolen tool to cut a bike lock — a crime that was witnessed and filmed by a bystander who later passed on the footage to police.
Kelland rode off on the $7000 bicycle, all the way to Cash Converters in South Dunedin where he paid an associate $20 to pawn it.
They received $500 from the shop.
Over nine days, Kelland repeatedly targeted Rebel Sport and The Warehouse, using a similarly rudimentary technique.
Kelland would select several items and then take them into a changing room as though he was trying them on.
While inside he would hide them in a bag before bypassing the counter on his way out.
On one occasion he cut his hand on a glass bong in his bag and left a trail of blood as he fled the store, court documents said.
As well as almost $700 of stolen garments, Kelland also made off with $229 headphones from an electronics store and $38 worth of alcohol from a supermarket.
He was convicted of nine counts of shoplifting, one of dishonestly using a document and one of unlawfully taking a bicycle.
Judge David Robinson said it represented a continuing pattern of offending.
Kelland appeared in court last year on prior dishonesty charges which featured a bizarre break-in at a Kiwirail building during which he defecated in women’s toilets.
He received intensive supervision, a sentence he was still serving when the most recent crimes occurred.
Kelland told Probation he was "overwhelmed" at the time, and did not have enough money from his benefit payment to survive.
"However, you really, by the end of this particular month, would’ve had a rather well-stocked wardrobe," the judge said.
He jailed Kelland for 10 months but refused to make a reparation order since the man had no money or assets.
Judge Robinson declined an Otago Daily Times application to photograph the defendant.
