{"id":619062,"date":"2026-10-03T03:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T03:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/619062\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T03:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T03:16:10","slug":"joel-duzevich-sentenced-for-shoplifting-from-five-auckland-stores-possessing-meth-pipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/619062\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Duzevich sentenced for shoplifting from five Auckland stores, possessing meth pipe"},"content":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s when a worker from health organisation Te H\u0101 Oranga stood up, telling the court that, while Duzevich was behind bars, her team was working to find alcohol or drug programmes<\/a> for him, as well as a \u201cstable and safe\u201d place to live when he gets out.<\/p>\n

Te H\u0101 Oranga general manager Frana Botica later told NZME that its Te Ara Whakahokia service helped people reintegrate into the community after prison and not reoffend.<\/p>\n

She said finding homes for such people was one of its \u201cbiggest challenges\u201d, but it was trying to overcome that by slowly strengthening ties with housing providers.<\/p>\n

According to the summary of facts, Duzevich went to a Super Liquor in Avondale, West Auckland, in June and stole a $50 bottle of rum.<\/p>\n

A couple of days later, he stole $50 worth of drinks from Woolworths <\/a>St Lukes, and a $360 women\u2019s leather jacket from a Farmers two days after that.<\/p>\n

Then he went to Woolworths in Point Chevalier<\/a> and put meat, eggs and alcohol into his backpack, together worth about $150. A few days later, he went into another Woolworths on the North Shore, stealing $290 of meat and chocolate.<\/p>\n

Three months earlier, he was found in a car taken from a burglary in Kingsland, Auckland, which had a stolen number plate attached to the back.<\/p>\n

The cops that caught him<\/p>\n

Sergeant Shane Bainbridge told NZME that he was at the North Shore<\/a> Woolworths with the Waitemat\u0101 East beat team, which he supervises, on an unrelated matter when he learned about the theft.<\/p>\n

He said police were able to pull up the shoplifter\u2019s number plate on CCTV.<\/p>\n

While they were there, they heard from a separate police response team, which was watching a \u201cwell-known address\u201d. It gave details over the police radio of a car leaving the house.<\/p>\n

Police \u201cput two and two together\u201d, Bainbridge said. Officers watching the house stopped the car and arrested Duzevich, who was in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to match that person to the footage that we were watching, basically in live, real time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Bainbridge\u2019s team, shoplifting <\/a>prevention was about having a more visible presence in their area, and helping victims, particularly the more vulnerable, smaller businesses, safeguard against theft.<\/p>\n

It was also about the thieves, he said. Police generally targeted repeat offenders and those stealing to onsell, rather than to feed themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still deal with the one-offs and the two-offs, but we might take a different approach to them as far as how we deal with them afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their work was about understanding what drove shoplifters to steal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it just a hard time in their life and they\u2019ve made a mistake, or is it to feed addiction, or is it to make money?\u201d<\/p>\n

There were many different reasons, he said.<\/p>\n

Acting inspector Caroline Miles, the Waitemat\u0101 East prevention manager, chimed in that how the thieves were dealt with was therefore \u201csubjective\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"JoelJoel Duzevich in the Auckland District Court on this week and his lawyer Matthew Timmins. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

History of mental illness<\/p>\n

In Auckland District Court last month, Duzevich\u2019s lawyer, Matthew Timmins, said his client had a history of mental illness<\/a>, for which he was untreated and therefore vulnerable.<\/p>\n

A court mental health nurse countered, however, that Duzevich had his illness treated regularly by his GP since 2024, as well as by the prison medical team when in custody.<\/p>\n

What the judge called some of Duzevich\u2019s \u201cnonsensical statements\u201d in a Corrections <\/a>report before the court were the residual symptoms of a head injury, the nurse said.<\/p>\n

Judge Davenport said it was \u201creally good\u201d that Duzevich had made some \u201cpositive steps\u201d towards addressing some of the reasons for his offending.<\/p>\n

She said his post-release plan looked sensible, and included \u201cgetting warm socks\u201d, which was always important.<\/p>\n

Duzevich needed help, particularly with finding somewhere to go once he was released, she said.<\/p>\n

She accepted that some of the items he stole might have been to feed himself, but others were taken to sell in exchange for drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n

Meth or homelessness?<\/p>\n

She noted the methamphetamine <\/a>pipe found in his pocket when he was arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] appears to be an ongoing problem for you, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Duzevich replied from the dock.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an evil drug, meth. Once it gets its claws in you, it\u2019s hard to get them out,\u201d the judge continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t meth, your honour,\u201d Duzevich interjected. \u201cIt was because I was homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Davenport accepted his explanation, but also pointed out that he was on post-release conditions and had the support of probation services and Corrections at the time of the thefts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging with the probation service is not a punishment; it\u2019s trying to help you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She noted that shoplifting wasn\u2019t a victimless crime, and made supermarkets increase their prices, which had an effect on the community.<\/p>\n

She also pointed out that Duzevich had 20 clocked up offences since 2021 and had been in and out of prison for five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re 50 years of age now. I think it\u2019s time you aged yourself out of the prison system and [did] … something more positive with your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duzevich needed rehabilitation, help and support, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all need rehab in some way, I know that,\u201d Duzevich said from the dock.<\/p>\n

She reduced his sentence for his guilty plea, addiction, personal circumstances and attempts to rehabilitate himself. She raised it for his criminal history.<\/p>\n

For being in the stolen car, failing to report to probation in June, possessing the glass pipe and five counts of shoplifting, she sentenced him to 10 months in prison.<\/p>\n

Because he had been in custody for three and a half months, that left about six weeks before he could be released, the court heard. Timmins said that was a good amount of time for Te H\u0101 Oranga to find his client somewhere to live.<\/p>\n

Judge Davenport also ordered Duzevich to pay back $400 of what he stole, at a rate of $10 a week, once he was out of prison and receiving a Work and Income <\/a>benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to set him up to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She\u2019s currently based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.<\/p>\n

Join the NZ Herald\u2019s Open Justice team for Case by Case<\/a>, a video and podcast series examining the disputes and decisions making headlines across New Zealand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That\u2019s when a worker from health organisation Te H\u0101 Oranga stood up, telling the court that, while Duzevich…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[53500,579,51,5432,85689,304804,60508,1342,2082,71,19474,17467,13840,4188,13457,1868,5978,111,139,69,45644,6660,36356,27304,8442,91929,304805,5161,4733,4742,213,4744,653,5412,102],"class_list":["post-619062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-50yearold","tag-addiction","tag-auckland","tag-between","tag-bulk","tag-duzevich","tag-feed","tag-five","tag-for","tag-from","tag-items","tag-joel","tag-like","tag-living","tag-look","tag-meth","tag-might","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paper","tag-pipe","tag-pocket","tag-possessing","tag-prison","tag-repeat","tag-resellable","tag-sentenced","tag-shoplifter","tag-shoplifting","tag-sports","tag-stealing","tag-stores","tag-streets","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}