ALLEGED THEFT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 169, 17 July 1916, Page 6

ALLEGED THEFT.

At the Police Court this morning Basil Batchelor, a young man, was charged that about December 15, he stole an overcoat, valued at £3, the property of T. B. O'Connor. The police evidence was that Mr. O'Connor, licensee of the Thames Hotel, had his overcoat stolen from the hotel. Subsequently he saw the coat left on a peg by some person who was dining at the hotel, and had it watched, with the result that a young man named B!a?k claimed it, and eaid he had 'bought it for 5/ from the accused. Accused, when approached, admitted that h e had sold the coat to Black, and said that he had bought it from a sailor. At the time he bought the coat from a sailor he was employed as porter in the Thames Hotel. Accused (who was represented by Mr. Singer) stated that when he was employed at the Thames Hotel he wa9 met in an alleyway beside the hotel by a seaman, who said he was hard up, and offered witness the overcoat and a pair of boots for 10/. Witness bought them. He had worn the shoes out now, but had never worn the coat, as it was too large for him. He subsequently left the hotel and went to another hotel, but left the coat behind in charge of a barman, who kept it in his room. Later tlie barman left the Thames Hotel, and brought the coat to witness. This barman had now gone to Australia. As the coat wae too big for him he sold it to a mate for 5/. Witness gave a description of the sailor he got the coat from. A cellarman at the Thames Hotel stated that he lived in the same room with the barman after Batchelor left the hotel, and he noticed an overcoat there, which the 'barman said belonged to Batehelor, and which the barman later took away to give to Batchelor. Hie Worship remarked that though the story of 'buying things /rom a man in the street was usually regarded with suspicion, all the circnmetancca i n this case were different from the usual "etory of the sailor," and there was ! sufficient doubt to justify a disniaeaL