A Kaitaia backpackers owner has pleaded guilty in the High Court of Whangarei to 42 charges including filming intimate recordings of male guests and drugging and indecently assaulting guests. Main Street Lodge owner, Michael Harris, was arrested in September 2014 when a guest made a complaint to Police regarding an alleged incident. The charges are related to offences committed between May 2005 and September 2014. The Northern Advocate reports that in July, Harris entered pleas to 14 charges - nine of which are representative charges and represent several instances of the same offending - and elected a jury trial on 28 other charges. Yesterday Harris pled guilty to the 28 charges - seven of which are representative charges - and he is due to be sentenced in December.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 1st September 2016 - 5:38pm