Member of high-profile family dodges conviction for Pak'nSave shoplifting

Otago Daily Times

5 days ago

A member of the high-profile Thackwray family has avoided a conviction after being caught stealing groceries from a Queenstown supermarket on 15 separate occasions.
Penelope Kate Thackwray, 23, electrical tradesperson, applied for a discharge without conviction on employment and mental health grounds after admitting a charge of shoplifting items valued at $552.81 from Pak'nSave Frankton between September 28 and November 10 last year.
At Thackwray's sentencing in the Queenstown District Court yesterday, Judge Murray Hunt gave her two days to pay $500 to a charity of her choice, after which he would sign off the discharge.
However, he refused her application for permanent name suppression, saying it did not meet the threshold of "extreme hardship".
"The understandable embarrassment you might have about seeing your name in the paper ... is simply a consequence you'll have to live with, as will others who share your name."
Thackwray is one of four daughters of the late Phil Thackwray, the founder of Auckland super-yacht building company Thackwray Yachts.
Her sister, Bridget, who also lives in Queenstown, is seeking planning permission to develop a purpose-built glowworm cave near the resort's CBD with her husband, Topher Richwhite.
The couple made national headlines in 2022 after being detained in Iran for nearly four months while partway through travelling the world in a Jeep, documenting the journey for hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.
The court heard that on 15 separate occasions, Thackwray was observed on CCTV putting some items directly into her trolley and others into boxes or produce bags.
At the self-checkout, she paid for the items in the trolley, but for the others, she scanned them and bagged them after entering them on the machine's display as lower-value items.
She later told police she had done so mistakenly because she was "freaking out" due to her social anxiety.
Counsel Jono Ross said Thackwray had mental health concerns and was on a four-month waiting list for counselling.
She had no previous convictions other than one for a speeding offence, which he considered legally erroneous.
Prosecutor Dan Andrew said the defendant had taken a long time to address her claimed mental health issues, given the offending had occurred last year.
Also, unlike many defendants in similar cases, she had not sought to reduce the gravity of her offending by doing voluntary work before sentencing.
Judge Hunt said the police's scepticism about the defendant's remorse was understandable.
Her claim the offending had been accidental was "nonsense".
"This isn't an isolated instance, this is 15 occasions when you've gone to the store and largely followed the same method of operation."
Although he had decided the consequences of a conviction outweighed the seriousness of her offending, he remained puzzled "why someone with your skill set and your ability ends up standing where you are".
She was fortunate her employer, who described her as a hard worker and "reliable, kind, well-liked and dependable", remained supportive.
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