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Kiwi Risks Huge Legal Bill To Recover Laptop |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Friday, 20 April 2007 |
A man in the New Zealand city of Christchurch is taking
civil action against an ex-con who stole his laptop. The defendant has
already served his time for the crime, but David Young wants his
property back.
Joshua Neil Porter admitted he stole the laptop and spent a
year in jail for his crime, but was never required to return the laptop
to his victim. Now that victim is taking legal action to try and find
out what happened to his laptop says this newspaper report.
In Christchurch District Court, Judge Stephen Erber warned the victim,
David Young, that the perpetrator was being defended by legal aid which
could rack up an immense legal bill which he could be forced to pay if
the action to retrieve his computer was unsuccessful.
Young has charged the criminal, Joshua Porter, under the Crimes Act
with denying access to a computer system in an attempt to force him to
say who he passed the laptop to after the burglary.
A jury will now decide the issue, but Judge Erber warned the
victim to take legal advice describing the relevant part of the Crimes
Act (section 250 ) as "a minefield" and said, "the issues in this case
are by no means simple.
"The argument about this could take some considerable time and be
quite expensive, and if it were lost by you, you could be in a position
of having to pay for it."
The victim is determined to recover his laptop as it contains all the work for a website he was developing, he said.
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