Two men posed as tradies in a failed attempt to steal scaffolding from a Dunedin building, a court has heard.
Jon Gerard Fitzgerald, 45, was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on charges of burglary, offensive use of a phone and refusing to provide his phone PIN to police.
His co-defendant Dylan James Hancock, 39, was sentenced in October after accepting his role in the offending as well as refusing to provide his phone PIN to police and possessing cannabis.
The court heard that on March 25 last year, the duo arrived at an unoccupied address in a car with false number plates, towing a trailer with no plates displayed.
Fitzgerald was wearing a ‘‘scaffold for less’’ hoodie and the pair dismantled the scaffolding around the building, putting it on to the trailer.
A witness contacted the owner of the house who confronted the defendants before they unloaded the scaffolding.
Yesterday, the court heard Fitzgerald maintained he had not committed a burglary and he had been sent to the address by mistake.
Judge Duncan Harvey sentenced Fitzgerald to six months’ community detention and 200 hours’ community work.
At Hancock’s sentencing in October, his lawyer John Westgate said the defendant was ‘‘at an age and stage now where he knows he has to get on with life’’.
Judge June Jelas sentenced Hancock to four months’ community detention and 14 months’ intensive supervision.
