A recidivist burglar has had his jail sentence quashed and case sent back to the District Court because of his role as a police informant.
Conrad Gray, 24, smashed his way into the house of a Rotorua man last November and threatened him with an axe when the man moved to call police, a Court of Appeal judgment released today said.
The victim tried to reason with Gray to avoid being attacked and eventually gave him the keys to his car.
Gray took off at speed and crashed into a shop soon afterwards, writing the car off and getting caught by police while still inside it.
Gray was sentenced in Rotorua District Court to three years and three months in jail on charges of assault with a weapon and burglary.
He had racked up nearly 30 previous convictions for burglary and dishonesty offences and was on parole at the time of the home invasion.
The Court of Appeal judgment said information about Gray's assistance to police in a separate investigation was not brought to the sentencing judge's attention.
It said police had since provided information relating to Gray giving them leads about alleged serious violent offending.
Police said Gray gave evidence at a preliminary hearing of charges brought against those accused and the value of his assistance had been high and might continue.
His lawyer argued to the Court of Appeal that Gray's sentence was excessive when his role as an informant was taken into account.
The Crown disagreed, saying his list of previous convictions and seriousness of his recent offending - committed while on parole - made the original sentence adequate.
But the Court of Appeal quashed it and said rather than reconsider the sentence, it was more appropriate to refer it back to the District Court.
The new sentencing judge would be made aware of the new information about Gray's role as an informant and once sentence was passed again, appeal rights would remain intact for both the Crown and Gray.
