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The Press
November 15, 2002
Jail term for raiding priest's bank accounts
by David Clarkson
A
man who pilfered a well-known Catholic priest's bank accounts has hinted at a
sinister background to the offending.
The comments were made in the Christchurch District Court when Craig Nikora Curtis was yesterday sentenced to two years jail on
charges of fraudulently using documents.
Curtis, 30, had pleaded guilty to the five fraud charges, as well as
threatening behaviour, wilful damage, and breach of parole.
He had gone to live with Father Jim Consedine at
His defence counsel, Rupert Glover, said Curtis had a background of abuse, and
it was an ongoing issue. He said Father Consedine had
done nothing to reassure Curtis that the kind of abuse he had previously
experienced was not going to happen again.
Curtis found himself in a situation in which things happened that put him once
again under the influence of events in his past.
"I don't think it would be wise nor appropriate
to make any further submissions on that basis," said Mr Glover.
He said Curtis was significantly institutionalised and needed counselling and
assistance with many of the problems behind the offending.
Judge Erber said Curtis had a bad list of previous
offending, and had been released on parole from a jail term for burglary when
the latest offences were committed. "You stole from a person who had been
trying to help you, and there has been an unsubstantiated suggestion of some
sinister background, which Mr Glover pleaded but did not set out in any detail.
"I set that to one side because you accept that you were fully responsible
for the acts which you committed," said Judge Erber.
The bank has reimbursed Father Consedine, and Curtis
has been ordered to pay back the $5987 reparations at $15 a week once he is
released from jail.
Home detention was refused.