6 Mar 2013

$4000 penalty for illegal timber

12:58 pm on 6 March 2013

A man who cut native timber illegally in the central North Island has been fined $4000 and other costs after admitting charges in Ohakune District Court.

Stephen Albert Fahey pleaded guilty to illegally milling Matai and Rata timber.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said he tried to sell sawn indigenous timber which had been milled on his property without having a registered sawmill, or approval.

Evidence was also found that he had sold sawn Matai to a timber merchant and was trying to sell Rata to the same merchant.