"A CATCH PHRASE."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 234, 4 October 1927, Page 11

"A CATCH PHRASE."

"IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE."

CASES OF SHOPLIFTING.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING."

WOMAN GIVEN HARD LABOUR. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) - CHRISTCHURCH this day. "There is no such thing as an irresistible impulse in cases of shoplifting. Where impulses are not resisted they must be met by an adequate punishment." This declaration was made by Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., when sentencing Annie Ryan, aged 47, a widow, to seven days' imprisonment with hard labour.

The woman pleaded guilty to two charges of shoplifting.

"She had no need to steal," said Chief Detective Lewis, "for she receives £4 10/ per week from her husband's estate." She was a widow who was inclined to drink a little.

A remand was asked for so that further inquiries into other cases of alleged shoplifting might be made. Mr. Burns, for accused, opposed the remand. He said it was one of those inexplicable cases in which no reason could be assigned for the offence. The woman remembered only the taking of goods from one shop and she confessed that the impulse was irresistible.

The magistrate said that he could not treat the case as other than a common one of petty thieving. Counsel had talked a lot about an irresistible impulse. Certainly there were impulses, but they were not irresistible. It was a catch phrase and was often used in the court.