The 36-year-old was sentenced in the Nelson District Court this week to just over a year in prison on 32 dishonesty charges collected over the course of a nine-month crime spree; 12 were for petrol drive-offs.
Between last October and this July, Heta, also known as Tessa Croft, stole $5086 worth of items from supermarkets and retail stores, plus petrol from various service stations where she drove off without paying.
Her preferred items were clothing, jewellery, meat and fuel but there was also a power tool from Mitre 10 and sanding disks from Bunnings, the 25-page police summary of facts showed.
Serial shoplifter Tessa Heta has been sentenced in the Nelson District Court to just over a year in prison. Most of the offending happened while she was on bail. Photo / Tracy Neal
Judge Tony Snell said during sentencing that 14 of the charges related to the theft of groceries and goods, 12 were for petrol drive-offs, two were drink-drive matters, one for being an unlicensed driver and the remainder for using a document for a pecuniary advantage.
The first tranche of offending was in October last year, when Heta and an associate took $327 worth of clothing and jewellery from The Warehouse in Nelson.
Despite a warning from the court to stop, her latest offending, while on bail in July this year, involved a spree at supermarkets in Motueka.
Judge Snell said that because of what he described as her “unrelenting offending”, she ended up in custody.
She was also sentenced on driving charges.
The 36-year-old had been forbidden to drive in 2018 until she got a proper licence.
Early on March 1 this year, a vehicle was pulled over by the police in central Nelson. The two people in the car, including Heta, appeared drunk.
The driver was taken to the police station for screening but a few hours later, the same vehicle was seen on CCTV parking outside the police station.
They found Heta at the wheel, at three times the limit with a breath alcohol reading of 758 mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.
Early on June 1 this year, Heta was driving through central Nelson on her way to Tapawera, 58km away, and was waved down by the police because her headlights were off.
She was found close to three times the legal limit with a blood alcohol reading of 136mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Judge Snell said in sentencing Heta, that one theft in particular had “seriously inconvenienced” the victim.
Heta was a passenger in a car that by chance, passed a cafe where two women had been seated outside, but left behind a bag when they moved indoors.
It contained an iPhone, various credit and debit cards plus cash and other items.
Heta got out of the vehicle and picked up the bag, removed the cash and cards then dumped it in a toilet block in Nelson’s Buxton Square carpark.
The spending spree she then went on, including $683 worth of Prezzy cards in multiple transactions.
Judge Snell said it was pointless ordering her to pay full reparation because she had little scope of being able to pay it, and any order would be a debt trap.
A small amount had been repaid, Heta’s lawyer Ian Miller said.
Heta claimed that most of her offending was driven by “pressure and intimidation” by a former partner, and that being in custody had allowed her to be alcohol-free and to come to regret the offending.
Judge Snell reminded Heta that shoplifting was not a victimless crime, and that “everyone paid” through price increases that retailers needed to impose to cover losses caused by “people like you”.
Heta was given discounts at sentencing for her guilty pleas and her personal circumstances, landing her an end sentence of 12.5 months in prison.
She was granted leave to apply for home detention, if a suitable address could be found, including at residential rehabilitation.
Because she had served time in custody, Heta would be eligible for release in just over two months.
She was also disqualified from driving for eight months, and convicted and discharged on the charge of driving while forbidden.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.