A meth-addicted Dunedin roofer badgered his client for $10,000 for a job that barely got started, a court has heard.
Manuel Pouwhare, 40, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to theft.
In July 2022, the victim enlisted his help to repair the roof of her Green Island home after a recommendation from a third party.
Pouwhare turned up, quoted $16,300 for the job and advised it could be completed in five days.
He provided the victim with an invoice using the trade name of Formula Roofing Ltd, a firm which had been removed from the Companies Office register three years earlier.
Several days later, Pouwhare turned up at the house and partially assembled some scaffolding.
It was the last time the homeowner saw him.
Repeated requests for funds over the ensuing weeks resulted in the victim transferring a total of $9800 into the defendant’s account.
On August 15, Pouwhare reassured the woman he still intended to complete the work — but he never returned.
He only appeared before the court on the charge a year later and told police he had been using methamphetamine at the time and did not undertake the roofing because he was "in a drug debt".
Meanwhile, the victim set up a Givealittle page in a bid to recoup some of her losses for the unfinished work.
The online fundraiser resulted in donations of $5000, court documents said.
Police accepted Pouwhare initially intended to complete the work but later "abandoned this genuine intention".
In the past 15 months there had been a "complete turnaround", counsel Meg Scally said.
Pouwhare had voluntarily attended addiction counselling, with which he was still engaged, was studying at polytech and had found part-time work.
"You’re doing all the right things," Judge David Robinson said.
In a pre-sentence interview, Pouwhare told Probation he had been associating with the wrong people at the time and realised he was at a crisis point.
The court heard the victim of his fraud had known he had a criminal record but had been willing to give him a chance.
"[That] perhaps compounds the sense of betrayal," Judge Robinson said.
"You let her down, you let yourself down and you let your mate down that gave her the referral."
Pouwhare was sentenced to 150 hours’ community work and 18 months’ intensive supervision and ordered to pay $4115 reparation.
