Ocean Alley musician apologises for shoplifting after New Zealand shop shares CCTV footage

Photograph: Ocean Alley/Instagram

Ocean Alley keyboardist Lachlan Galbraith has publicly apologised after a shop in New Zealand shared CCTV footage of him shoplifting.

Hunting and Fishing Queenstown uploaded footage to Facebook and Instagram showing Galbraith placing a A$17.95 drink bottle lid in his bag on New Year’s Eve. The Australian rock band is currently touring New Zealand and is due to play in Wellington on Wednesday and Whangamatā on Friday.

“Good to see the fellas in town for their performance at [the Rhythm and Alps music festival] tonight,” the shop wrote in its post, referring to the band’s gig in Queenstown.

“Unfortunately, it looks like there was just a little too much ‘Confidence’ in-store today,” the shop wrote, referencing one of the band’s songs.

“We realise hydration is important, so no worries, but please feel free to return the Yeti Chug Cap back before you leave town tomorrow. All the best for 2024 and the tour ahead.”

Galbraith subsequently apologised for the incident, describing his actions as “foolish”.

“Yesterday in an act of complete foolishness, I stole a drink bottle lid from the Queenstown Hunting and Fishing store,” he said in a video posted on the band’s Instagram account. “It is a moment I am not proud of at all and one that I have deep regret and remorse for. I have reached out to the team directly and we have rectified the situation.

“I am so sorry for disappointing all of our fans, the team at the store and of course, the band. My actions do not reflect on how we carry ourselves as a band.”

After his apology, Hunting and Fishing removed the footage from their social media and thanked Galbraith.

“We are in no way offering special treatment based on who the person is,” they wrote afterwards, in response to criticism of their decision to take down the footage. “They have apologised, owned up and made the appropriate reparations. We in turn deleted the post as we would anyone who made the appropriate effort to rectify the situation.

“The embarrassment and aftermath of this particular event should be punishment enough.”

Ocean Alley is due to tour Australia before heading over to North America and the United Kingdom later this year.