Arrest after camp ground assaults

Senior Sergeant Fiona Roberts. PHOTO: ARCHIVE
Senior Sergeant Fiona Roberts. PHOTO: ARCHIVE
Unhappy campers, vandalism and drunk drivers were on Wānaka police’s radar this week.

On Monday, police were called to the Albert Town Campground in response to reports of a man "yelling constantly" for about two hours. 

Senior Sergeant Fiona Roberts said police spoke to the man, who had settled down when they found him.

On Saturday, police arrested and charged a man with assaults on a person in family relationship and wilful damage. He appeared in the Queenstown District Court on Monday.

In the wake of last week’s series of tool thefts, Snr Sgt Roberts said it was important for people to seriously think about how they could make trading stolen items "unattractive and unavailable" for potential culprits.

She said while the station had received more reports of missing items since last week’s spike, the individuals were unsure when they had last seen the items in question and the incidents could not be linked.

A Wānaka cafe was the target of graffiti after it was discovered someone had scratched their tag into an interior mirror.

Snr Sgt Roberts said although the act might seem trivial, it was still wilful damage to a person’s property. 

"Ultimately, my view with graffiti and vandalism — it’s wilful damage. I don't understand it. It doesn’t serve any purpose."

She encouraged vandalism to be reported to the police before attempts were made to remove it.

If the vandalism was on public property, filing a police report before notifying the council was the best course of action, she said.

On Wānaka’s roads, police screened 248 people at a September 4 checkpoint, 23 of whom had alcohol in their system.

Three of those people were found to be over the legal limit, including one youth motorist whose reading was not disclosed and two other readings of 728mcg and 670mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.

Last Friday, another police checkpoint apprehended a further three people with readings of 867mcg, 911mcg and 650mcg.

On Sunday at about 7.50pm, police stopped a man driving on the Luggate-Cromwell Rd for speeding. 

A subsequent evidential breath test found he was over the limit with a reading of 457mcg.

The police’s commercial vehicle safety team (CVST) were also in town as part of Operation Hannah.

Snr Sgt Roberts said they stopped several vehicles, including a taxi van driving in the wet on a bald tyre. 

"That’s really disappointing to see."