By Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter of 
Seasonal workers in a Hawke's Bay orchard. Judge Robert Spear said Gypsy Taumata-Hura had "callously" stolen food from a workers' hostel. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Anusha Bradley
A woman who stole more than $1000 worth of frozen food from a foreign seasonal workers' hostel seemed pleased to be sentenced to home detention.
"I got it - yay!" Gypsy Taumata-Hura, 22, yelled as she was led out of the Hastings District Court on Thursday.
The court had been told that Taumata-Hura's co-offender in the food heist, Kahu Lee Kahika, was already in prison serving an 18-month sentence after being dealt with separately by the court.
Taumata-Hura earlier pleaded guilty to burglary and a number of lesser dishonesty offences and bail breaches. She was sentenced to home detention for eight months.
Judge Robert Spear said the pair had "quite callously" taken food out of the mouths of workers brought to Hawke's Bay under the Registered Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.
The RSE scheme allows approved growers to bring in people from the Pacific islands and elsewhere to fill workforce shortages in horticulture and viticulture.
Judge Spear said the theft of their food had been a "very depressing experience" for the RSE workers, who had very little, and sent much of their earnings back to their families overseas.
A police summary of facts said Taumata-Hura and Kahika had entered the hostel, which was at the end of a long driveway, early on 6 July.
They entered a shared kitchen and took a large amount of food from a freezer.
The pair were seen leaving in a white vehicle, which police spotted minutes later and followed.
When they caught up with the pair the frozen food was still in the car's boot.
When Taumata-Hura committed the burglary she was already on an intensive supervision sentence for theft, trespass, breach of bail and unlawfully getting into a vehicle, imposed in April this year.
Judge Spear said Taumata-Hura would not have to pay reparation for any of her dishonesty.
"She can't afford it," he said.
However, the judge imposed conditions for her not to possess or consume alcohol or non-prescription drugs, and not to have any contact with Kahika should he be released from prison.
-This story originally appeared on NZ Herald.
