Minister makes an arrest
March 14th, 2012 at 2:00 pm by David FarrarI wonder if a Minister of the Crown has ever arrested someone before? Vernon Small at Stuff reports:
Courts Minister and former detective Chester Borrows has been brushing off his old skills, performing a “citizen’s arrest” and turning in a hitch-hiker who allegedly stole his cellphone.
Mr Borrows said he had given a lift to the young man on Monday.
“You do someone a good turn … It was no real big deal. I picked up this hitch-hiker it was pouring with rain, so I thought, pick him up, give him a lift,” said Mr Borrows, a former detective sergeant.
“And then when he jumped out of the car I noticed my cellphone had gone for a walk. As you can imagine it’s full of highly confidential addresses and stuff. So I hooked him back to give him a bit of a speaking to.
“He denied having it and he did a bit of a bag search and didn’t find it. Then he mysteriously needed to go around the back of the building to relieve himself. I then went around there and found that he had dropped the thing under some iron behind the building so I grabbed the cellphone and grabbed him and marched him around the corner to the cop shop.”
By coincidence it was the police station in Patea where Mr Borrows had served a stint.
Good on Chester for both picking up a hitchhiker, and for nabbing him when he turned out to be a thief.
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March 14th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Never pick up hitch hikers. Only trash do this nowadays.
[DPF: I often pick up hitchhikers. I know I can provide a safe journey for them, which others may not. Also can be interesting conversations.]
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
“Only trash do this nowadays.”
After so long under the jackboot of socialism, NZ should be declared an ethics free zone.
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Good stuff from Chester Borrows. What would make this an even better story would be if the would-be crook engaged Borrows’ Whanganui electorate opponent Hamish MacDouall as his counsel!
But crooks beware; Anne Tolley is about to leave the country for a few days, and Chester will be the Acting Minister of Police; you have been warned!
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
This is appalling…that poor boy is a victim too..that’s what Chester “all they need is love” told a group of SST members whose loved ones had been murdered ffs…
How will this poor lad be assisted by having a conviction for theft?
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Sounds like unauthorised search and seizure to me.
The hitchhiker was obviously in training for advanced security contract.
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
“I wonder if a Minister of the Crown has ever arrested someone before?”
Vote:Probably not, but the reverse has happened all to frequently lately. Well, ex-Cabinet Ministers being arrested anyway.
March 14th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
I used to drive a lot during my union work. I often picked up hitchhikers and like David, met some fascinating people. But then I stopped. It was because of a story of a man who picked up a girl who later accused him of rape. He hadn’t touched her and was acquitted, but his family were left with the stigma.
As for Chester, politically he is naive and often comes across as a Mr Plod Idiot. But good on him here!
Carolyn and I once owned a pet shop. A teenage girl said she was busting for a leak and, of course, we let her use the toilet. Then Carolyn was distracted by a customer, left her cellphone on the table…….end of story.
A shoplifter once stole a puppy from the shop. I might write that story sometime.
A question: Is it legal in either Australia or NZ for a civilian to place a police officer under arrest?
Just asking……….
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
I was once picked up by a German engineer who had been a 17 year old in the army during the invasion of Russia. He had some stories you don’t get in books.
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
The phone must be expensive – unless this was at night, the phone must be worth more than $1000 for an arrest to be legal:
35Arrest of persons found committing certain crimes
Every one is justified in arresting without warrant—
(a) any person whom he finds committing any offence against this Act for which the maximum punishment is not less than 3 years’ imprisonment:
(b) any person whom he finds by night committing any offence against this Act.
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
I never pick up hitchhikers anymore.
It could turn out to be someone as mad as M’Baiter… and then you’d have to listen to them chewing your ear off about knuckle-dragging social marxists all the way to Hamilton.
(Or as Mr Borrows discovered, it could be some c___ head who will accept your hospitality and then steal from you…)
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
These stories remind me of one young Jean Val Jean. A man who stole silver from a Priest after he gave quarters for a night when noone else would. The Priest allowed him to take the silver on the condition that he had just bought his soul… The story ends in sad but good manner as Jean Val Jean commits to right his sins. But what would I know, I’m just a romantic for old (fictional) tales.
Also Pappillon is a must read.
Vote:March 14th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
If I remember rightly (and if I don’t FES or Edgler will sort it out) this country does not have a power of citizens’s arrest (think it was a CA case about a decade ago) rather a statutory protection against civil and criminal liability where the crime is punishable by more than three years or at night (under the Crimes Act) and in other situations protection against criminal liability. It’s a fine distinction…
More importantly great work from Chester.
Vote: