Suspended sentence for stealing dinghy

One of the three survivors of a fatal boating accident on Omokoroa Harbour last month during which 22-year-old Tauranga man Shaun Hogarth drowned has been convicted on a charge of stealing the dinghy.

Dylan Baxter, 25, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of a boat in Tauranga Community Magistrate's Court earlier this week and sentence was suspended. Community Magistrate Lesley Jensen convicted him and ordered him to come up for sentence if called upon to do so in six months.

That means if Baxter does not re-offend during that period it will be the end of the matter.

But if he does offend in a serious way then the boat theft charge can come back to haunt him.

Liam Kane, 22, the second survivor who swum to shore to raise the alarm after the dingy capsized on the night of October 16 then went on the run until his arrest on Friday has been jailed for 18 months.

That includes time for theft of the boat and breaching his 10-months home detention sentence.

Mr Hogarth's body was found on October 25.