Estate agent fights poo in the post charge

If it looks like faeces and smells like faeces, it's still not necessarily faeces. That's what 57-year-old New Zealand real estate agent Grant Campbell Tucker will argue in the Auckland District Court when he defends a charge of posting poo to a rival agent. Tucker, of Freemans Bay, pleaded not guilty on Monday to the charge laid under the Postal Services Act and Telecommunications Act.

He also denied a charge of using a telephone to offend the same complainant, Jonathan Charles Wills, with obscene language. Tucker is a director of Netrealty. Mr Wills, of Westmere, is director of Custom Residential. Both sell homes in pricey neighbourhoods such as Mt Eden, Herne Bay and Grey Lynn. Mr Wills said the package was sent to his lawyer, David Beard, at the of his Legal Street law firm.



Mr Beard alleged a letter in the package was written on the letterhead of Tucker's company and the package also contained broken glass. The delivery was taken to the police. "We opened the package out on the steps at the Auckland Central station. I was gagging over the side." In court, police told Judge Grant Fraser they had not sent the package to experts for examination for "health and safety reasons". They will present witness statements and photos of the contents when the matter goes to judge-alone trial.

Tucker's lawyer, Larissa Mulder, said that without forensic evidence it could not be proved the item was a "noxious substance" on the inference of smell. She also said the allegedly obscene voicemail message left by her client did not meet the threshold "in today's world". The judge remanded Tucker on bail until next month. Posting a noxious substance attracts a maximum penalty of a $5000 fine, while the other charge could bring up to three months' jail.