PSEUDO DETECTIVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 302, 21 December 1926, Page 8

PSEUDO DETECTIVE.

HANDCUFFS AND ALL! EPISODE ON NIAGARA. FIXED XT) OR A MOXTIL Norman .Tames Walsh (30) is one of those men whose motto is evidently like that of the Boy Scouts, "Be Prepared," for when charged at the Police Court this morning with assuming the designation of a detective to gain admission to R.HM.s. Xiagara last evening he explained that he carried a pair of handcuffs "in case he might be called upon to assist any policeman who might be iv difficulties." "Guilty to having the handcuffs, but not guilty to the other," he said, after the clerk had charged him with the offence. Norman McLeod, quartermaster on board the mailboat Niagara, said he was on the ship's gangway about 9.15 o'clock last night when accused approached, stating that he wished to see the second steward. "Where's your pass?" witness asked Walsh. "Tec" was all that Walsh said, as he pointed to a badge which was worn in the lapel of his coat. He also drew the side of his coat, and revealed a pair of handcuffs dangling from his hip pocket. On the badge in his lapel were inscribed the words "H.M.s. Challenger," and witness, thinking that accused might be a detective in search of naval deserters, allowed him to proceed on board. Some ten minutes later he told Walsh to go ashore. He did so, but remained for some time on the wharf at the foot of the gangway, and again said he wanted to see the second steward. When witness summoned the second steward Walsh said that he was not the man. Walsh jumped on a railway engine, and that was the last witness saw of him. Walsh: "I never produced the handcuffs."—"You pulled your coat aside and showed them to mc." "Did I say that I was a detective?"— "Yes, you said you were a 'tec.'" Constable Dwyer then stated that he received a complaint, about 9.15, about a man being in possession of a revolver, and interviewed accused. Walsh had a pair of handcuffs, but no revolver. By way of explaining why he had the manacles accused said that he purchased them five years ago. As he was coming into town last night he thought he would take them with him in case he might be, called on to assist a constable. Walsh added that 18 months ago he had assisted I a constable who was in trouble. "I was under the influence of liquor last night," Walsh told Mr. Hunt, adding that he did not keep the handcuffs for any unlawful purpose. He also said that he was told to meet the second steward, named Roach, whom he had "cracked a couple of bottles of beer" with previously. Mr. Hunt: Well, you have no right to have handcuffs. You give them to the police. Accused: Yes, they can have them. Senior Sergeant HEdwards stated that there was no steward on the ship by the name of Roach. Walsh had been in trouble before, and had a short list of previous convictions, including one for pointing a firearm at another person. Drink was the cause of his trouble. Walsh was fined £5, in default one month's imprisonment. He consented to a prohibition order being issued. !