Otago University proctor Dave Scott has landed himself in hot water this week after entering a student flat without permission and stealing three bongs.

Scott, who has publicly apologised today and acknowledged he made a mistake, says he was just trying to protect the students from possible police action, and was doing it out of concern for them.

But at a 3pm press conference this afternoon, he failed to coherently explain to media why he also took two cans of beans, a couch cushion, a Playstation 4, a Rush Hour DVD set, a beer, 60 dollars, and had a bath before leaving.

“Look, everything I did, I did with the students’ well-being in mind,” he said. “Did I cross a line at times? Absolutely, but for one, there were too many beans in that flat. You don’t need sixteen cans, I know you buy them all because they keep and you think at some point you’re going to use them, but I think most students understand that those cans just get moved from flat to flat to flat and then eventually into a family home until you finally get the courage to put them straight in the bin, and there are families that could use beans that you’re not using; my family, for example.

“The cushion? Uh, look, didn’t fit the couch, wasn’t even from the same couch that it was on. Just trying to find that a home.

“The Playstation 4, study distraction.

“Rush Hour? Kind of a racist franchise.”

Scott could not explain why he took the beer and 60 dollars, but said that taking a bath was “not a criminal act.”

Legal experts spoken to about the matter agreed that taking a bath is not a crime.

Students living in the flat were sympathetic to Scott, telling media today that he’s a “good guy” and they didn’t want to see him fired, even though it was “really weird that he had a bath here.”