A Wanganui artist who admitted stealing a Colin McCahon sculpture was discharged without conviction in Wanganui District Court yesterday.
Donald McKay Hill, 60, had earlier pleaded guilty to stealing McCahon's 1966 "Iron Cross" and underwent a restorative justice programme with the victim's family.
McCahon had gifted the work to his friend, and former student, Wanganui painter Joanna Paul, who died in 2003.
It was then placed in a safe in her shared Wanganui art studio. After it was stolen, the sculpture appeared on TV One's "Auction House" programme in 2006, when it was sold to an unsuspecting Wellington businessman, Lloyd Morrison, for $25,000.
Paul's sister contacted police when she saw the programme and they recovered the work.
Hill was arrested in November last year.
