SUPREME COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 258, 31 October 1928, Page 9

SUPREME COURT.

THEFTS PROM COTTAGES.

THAMES FISHERMAN GUILTY.

At the Supreme Court Edward John Taylor, fisherman, was found guilty of theft when he stood trial on a charge of breaking and entering and the stealing of goods valued at £9 7/, and alternatively with the theft of goods and receiving them, knowing them to have been stolen.

A gramophone, a number of records, a mirror, a lamp and sundry other articles were displayed in Court.

The owner of the property, Thomas Edwin McLeay, said he left two cottages at Tararu, near Thames, securely locked on April 23. One of the cottages was burned down, and, after the fire, a search among the ashes failed to reveal any sign of the gramophone that had been left in it. Various articles were also missing from the second cottage, the door of which had been forced. This month, in company with a constable, he visited accused's house at Tararu and identified various articles that had been in the cottages. In summing up, Mr. Justice Blair sail there was not sufficient evidence to justify a verdict of guilty on the charge of breaking and entering. Accused denied his guilt, but the jury found him guilty of theft.

Sentence was deferred until Saturday,

"MISTAKEN IDENTITY" FAILS.

An unsuccessful plea of mistaken identity was made before Mr. Justice Smith by Ernest Edward Cox (45), who was charged with the theft of brass fittings and electrical gear to the value of over £51, the property of the Twigg Engineering Co., Freeman's Bay. The charges related to September I. Accused conducted his own defence, and Mr. V. N. Hubble prosecuted.

The manager of the company, Horace Atholl Scott, said all the missing articles had been recovered. The nightwatchman on the premises gave evidence that the-articles had been lifted out of a show window into a tin, and the sound had attracted attention at ].."<> o'clock in the" morning. The accused, when surprised, pretended he was drunk.

Accused said the nightwatchman had made a mistake, as he had ? never seen him before, and he submitted it was a case of mistaken identity.

After a retirement the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and prisoner was remanded for sentence till Saturday.

ELDERLY MAN PLEADS GUILTY,

When Robert William Bailey (56) appeared for trial on a charge of having carnal knowledge of a girl aged 13, at Tryphena, Great Barrier, he entered a plea of guilty. Sentence was deferred, till Saturday morning. Teira Molii, a Maori (Mr. Schramm), was found guilty of two charges of rape on a Maori of 13 years of age. He will be sentenced on Saturday. MAORI PLEADS GUILTY. A plea of guilty was entJfcd by William Matthew, a Maori, • win he appeared for trial on a charge of breaking and entering the grocery store of C. A. Osborne, in Princes Street, Onehunga, on the night of October 3, and with the theft of a fountain pen valued at £1, and 1/1J in money. Matthew was noticed near the safe in the shop by a passer-by, and was later arrested on emerging from it.

Accused was remanded for sentence till Saturday morning.

DALMATIANS CHARGED,

Two Dalmatian bush contractors from Ruakaka, near Whangarei—lvan Yovich and Mick Millan Yovich—stood side by side in the dock, before Mr. Justice Blair this morning, and denied a charge of forgery on November 12, 1920. Mick Yovich also pleaded not guilty to a further count that alleged that he acted upon the document as if it were genuine.

The case for the prosecution, as outlined by Mr. V. N. Hubble, was that another Dalmatian, who had met with an accident, lodged a claim for insurance with the National Insurance Co. Later it was discovered that the insurance company had a receipt for an amount paid, but the claimant denied he had signed it. The evidence, however, pointed to the fact that Ivan Yovich signed the document, and the other accused was a party to the offence. The sum of £24 was involved in the accident claim, but only £10 was handed over to the claimant by the two accused. It would be suggested that the deficit of £8 was standing on account between the Yovich brothers, and the other Dalmatian, who had had many financial dealings, but the qiiestion was: Did Ivan Yovich sign the document without authority? The proceedings were complicated and protracted, owing to the fact that the principal witnesses were Dalmatians, and gave their evidence through an interpreter. (Proceeding.)