Timothy Devlin, 32, was found guilty of possessing and using a forged document in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after a judge-alone trial.
He denied the charge, saying he did not know the notes were forged.
When interviewed by police, Devlin explained he was visiting Dunedin on August 22 last year when a friend of an associate asked if he could do him a favour.
He said if Devlin took two $100 notes and bought three $50 Paysafe vouchers (a prepaid card used to make anonymous online purchases) he could keep one.
When interviewed, the defendant told police he thought the deal was a ‘‘score’’.
‘‘They say if it’s too good to be true, it normally f...... is, it really f...... was, wasn’t it?’’ the defendant said.
Devlin bought the vouchers from the Melbourne Dairy and got $50 change.
He said he did not know the money was fake until he went back to the shop the next day when his voucher did not work and the shop employee showed him that the notes had identical serial numbers.
The worker asked Devlin to pay back the $50 cash they gave him the day before, which he eventually did.
‘‘I look like a f...... idiot don’t I?’’ he said in his police interview.
‘‘Wow, Timothy you really look like a fool in this one.’’
He refused to tell police who had given him the fake cash, saying he did not really know them.
‘‘I didn’t tell them who it was, I was quite concerned for my own safety,’’ he said yesterday.
‘‘They’re not a nice person.
‘‘That’s the easiest way to say it, I suppose.’’
After the trial, counsel Katherine Henry submitted the fake notes were ‘‘very convincing’’.
But that did not wash with Judge Hermann Retzlaff.
‘‘No, they’re not; not in the slightest.
‘‘I picked up those notes and I have to say, I would have immediately been concerned.’’
The judge found the defendant must have known the notes were fake and his explanation was ‘‘too far-fetched’’ to be believed.
‘‘You’ve ultimately stated that it was too good to be true, you said that yourself,’’ the judge said.
The defendant was bailed to appear before the court again in August when he plans to apply for a discharge without conviction.
