Countdown Te Rapa, where the urinating incident occurred, has since rebranded to Woolworths. Photo: Supplied / Google Maps
Duchaan Peter Priestley Fraser was walking down the health and beauty aisle of a Woolworths supermarket when he decided to urinate on the shelves in front of shocked shoppers.
The 32-year-old even managed to continue urinating as he pushed his trolley down aisle 9 of the Te Rapa store at 7.15pm on a Sunday evening in January last year.
The incident was one in a spate of shoplifting incidents, but likely the most bizarre of them all - and with no apparent reason for his behaviour.
He appeared for sentencing in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday on multiple charges of theft and shoplifting - totalling more than $20,000 - before Judge Arthur Tompkins.
His counsel, Laura Hann, had the job of keeping him out of jail.
Fraser's brazen behaviour began in Mitre 10 Te Rapa on 25 August 2022, when he was spotted putting a jelly-belly blueberry air freshener and a universal Meguiars car wheel brush in his jacket.
He was confronted by security but maintained his innocence - while also refusing to hand back the products or unzip his jacket.
He walked out with the items, which totalled $29.98, and when spoken to by police said, "No, you've got the wrong guy".
By the end of October he was over in Tauranga and went to the Bethlehem Woolworths with a female associate.
He went through the store filling up his trolley with bottles of wine, meat and other grocery items, totalling $1325.80, before the pair headed to the checkout.
The friend tried to distract staff as Fraser tried several times to exit the self-serve aisle before moving to an unmanned aisle and walking out.
However, he was challenged by staff and the pair left empty-handed.
About 1pm on 14 November, Fraser walked into the McDonald's Hamilton East and picked up bags of food, worth $100, for an Uber Eats delivery before fleeing in his vehicle.
On 31 December 2022, he went to Countdown Te Rapa with his female associate and again filled a trolley with meat, beauty, deli and other grocery items worth $1429.25 and walked out of the store.
The groceries were never recovered.
Fraser welcomed in 2023 with another brazen theft in the Matamata Warehouse on 1 January by walking in, grabbing a swimming pool that was boxed up, and walking out.
The pool was worth $499 and was never recovered.
He returned the next day and filled up a trolley with clothing, a 32-inch television, homeware items, perfume and toys and pushed it towards the store exit without paying.
However, this time he was apprehended by store security and the $1549.68 worth of items were recovered.
Fraser went back to Countdown Te Rapa on 20 January and was filling a trolley with his usual products when he was recognised by store security who called a notification of his presence over the in-store loudspeaker.
He walked his trolley, with $2736.70 worth of items, toward the exit but security staff were standing at the door waiting for him.
He discarded the trolley and left.
But it was on 22 January that he created the most havoc at the Te Rapa supermarket, filling his trolley before urinating on the stocked shelves in the health and beauty aisle.
He even continued to urinate on the shelves while pushing the trolley and while other shoppers stood nearby.
When he finished, he continued to load beauty products into his trolley before heading to the exit, where he was again stopped by security.
He claimed he had paid but had not been given a receipt.
When challenged by security he became aggressive and left the store, abandoning a trolley holding groceries worth $2128.70.
Due to Fraser urinating all over the shelves, Woolworths was forced to destroy all the affected stock, causing a loss totalling $14,957.70.
When questioned by police he said, "no comment".
'He's a different man now'
Hann told Judge Tompkins her client was a different man from the one who first stood in the dock when he appeared in court nearly 18 months ago.
She furnished certificates from various rehabilitative courses he had completed and said he had a full-time job and had attended two restorative justice conferences.
He was also the carer for his son as the boy's "mother was not in the picture".
Fraser could also pay $3900 reparation at $15 a week over the next five years, while clarifying the total loss suffered by the various businesses was about $22,000.
While home detention would ordinarily be expected, Hann said, she urged Judge Tompkins to instead impose a sentence of community detention and supervision to allow him to continue to work and care for his son.
Fraser was also "genuinely" remorseful and had written the judge a letter that also offered an insight into the factors that caused his offending.
"Having regard to all matters I have raised, I believe this is a case where the court can step back from home detention to something a little less punitive, given he is a sole father."
'No longer a welcomed customer'
Judge Tompkins took a starting point of 19 months' prison before issuing various discounts and getting to 12 months' jail.
However, given the work Fraser had done on himself, the judge agreed with Hann's submission and sentenced Fraser to six months of community detention and nine months' supervision, and ordered him to pay $4000 reparation.
The judge also noted a Woolworths spokesman's "totally understandable" comments that Fraser was "no longer a welcomed customer" and had been trespassed from the two affected stores.
- This story was originally published by the New Zealand Herald.