A man has been sentenced after he was caught hiding in another man’s wardrobe after breaking into his house on a mission to steal a few pairs of his undies.
Tony Dunhill had previously met the victim on an online dating app and was found in the wardrobe “sweating profusely” when the victim went upstairs to get changed.
The New Plymouth District Court has understood that Dunhill and the victim were both active users of the dating service but had never met in person.
Summarising the case, Judge Tony Greig said Dunnill made his way into the man’s house through an unsecured door at the back of the property.
He had found the victim’s address online and went to his Tauranga house in September 2023.
“You went into the complainant’s bedroom and you began going through underwear from the drawers with intent to steal them, and you hid some of the items on your person.
“The complainant arrived home, which caused you to hide in the wardrobe, dropping some of the complainant’s underwear on the floor in the process.
Police were then called and on arrival, Dunhill was still at the property.
“Later he noticed that at least two pairs of underwear missing as well as some stuffed into the back of the couch that you’d been sitting on while he made you wait for the police.”
Crown prosecutor Molly Tutton-Harris said the victim was seeking reparation for a broken lock, two t-shirts and three pairs of undies he said were stolen.
In The end, the judge sentenced Dunnill to 250 hours of community work and ordered him to pay the victim $1000 in emotional harm reparation.
