Two women who discovered they were sleeping with the same man poured maple syrup in his bed, cooked his shoes in a microwave and threatened to make public explicit photographs he had sent them.
Kaycee Te Aomarama Wall, 30, and Lani Aperahama, 40, each broke up with the man and later went to his home to collect belongings.When they learned of each other's relationship with him, the enraged women destroyed his property.
They then blackmailed the man - whose name is suppressed - by threatening to send photographs of his genitals to his workplace, bank and a cafe where his daughter worked unless he paid them $4000 each.
After days of texts and phone calls, he refused, and went to the police.
The pair were convicted of intentional damage and blackmail and yesterday were sentenced in the High Court at Auckland to 350 hours of community work. They had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges.
The rare charge of blackmail carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The High Court heard that both women were in a relationship with the man, but did not know about each other.
A mutual friend told the women of the duplicity, it was revealed outside court.
Imposing sentence, Justice Peter Woodhouse said the women went into the house and Wall was overcome with anger when she saw the man's bed.
The pair then began destroying his property. They broke a lampshade and ornaments, poured maple syrup on his bed, poured bleach on his clothing, emptied the contents of a dressing table on to the floor, microwaved his shoes and turned his freezer off. They also put tools and clothes into a spa pool.
The women learned their former lover had sent both of them the same photograph of him exposing his genitals, and decided to blackmail him for $4000 each - the amount they believed was owed to them for their contribution to their relationships.
Wall sent text messages demanding the money and threatened to send the photo to the man's work, his bank and to a cafe where his daughter worked.