Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
A Taranaki man who stole a car with a baby inside was watched from the public gallery by the child and its mother when he appeared in the New Plymouth District Court.
Michael Jai Smith has pleaded not guilty to abducting a child, but admitted a raft of other charges including car theft, dangerous driving causing injury, burglary and breaching parole conditions among others.
At the beginning of Thursday's proceedings, the court was advised the baby and its mother would be in the public gallery.
In May, Smith - who appeared via an audio visual link - stole a car that was left unlocked with the motor running from outside a Waitara dairy.
Michael Jai Smith. Photo: Supplied / Police
Discovering the baby inside, the 34-year-old pulled over not far away and left the child on the grass verge.
Security camera footage showed Smith getting out of the car after driving a few hundred metres - and while it was still moving - grabbing something from the back seat and putting it on the verge on Cameron Street.
Smith's defence counsel Nathan Bourke told the court the abduction charge was the last outstanding matter and involved a legal matter.
At an earlier appearance, Bourke said the facts were acknowledged, it was just a question of whether the abduction charge was appropriate given the circumstances of the offending.
He hoped that argument could be resolved at a pre-trial hearing.
Today, a pre-trial hearing date was set for September and a nominal sentencing date in November should the abduction charge issue be resolved.
Smith continued to be remanded in custody.