Two men have been jailed for their part in a scheme to demand a $17,000 "ransom" for two stolen cars that left their Holden devotee owner feeling suicidal.
Michael Anthony James, 47, had a year added to a jail term he is already serving for drug and firearm offences, and Craig Phillip Barron, a 42-year-old panelbeater, was sent to prison for seven months by Justice Christine French in the High Court at Christchurch today.
They had both pleaded guilty at the end of the crown case in a trial last month, to charges of demanding $17,000 with intent to steal it from the owner of the cars.
A third man, Shaun Thomas Guest, an unemployed 29-year-old, had also pleaded guilty but he was not sentenced today because his pre-sentence report had not been completed.
Barron was also ordered to pay $750 to the cars' owner for emotional harm reparations, the same sum that was ordered when a fourth member of the group - Riccarton business owner Peter Richard Boyd, 54 - pleaded guilty before trial and was sentenced to community work and supervision.
The cars were limited edition and highly collectable Holden Walkinshaw and Senator, worth about $66,000 each, which were taken in the burglary of the owner's garage in March 2007.
The owner offered a $5000 reward for their return, but was approached by Boyd who said someone had contacted him and offered the return of the cars for $17,000. The owner said in evidence he was told that they would be burnt if he did not pay the money.
He paid the money to Boyd, who handed all of it to Barron on the night the cars were returned in Sumner and Addington. The next day, $13,700 was found in James' possession, and $1000 with Guest.
Defence counsel Tim Fournier said it could not be said that James had a high culpability just because he had most of the money next day. It may have been meant for further distribution.
For Barron, Gerald Lascelles said it was wrong of the crown to speak of the case in terms of "commercial blackmail" and that was not the charge his client had been convicted of.
Justice French said the cars had been the pride and joy of the victim. He had been devastated by their loss. It had affected his health and left him feeling suicidal.
She said James had "strategically distanced himself" in the lead-up to the hand-over of the cars but had been found with most of the money. Barron had been the primary player and negotiator at the time of the hand-over of the cars.
Guest will be sentenced when his report is completed on April 9.
