TRIP TO HOWICK.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 232, 1 October 1929, Page 10

TRIP TO HOWICK.

FIVE PERSONS IN LORRY.

ALL APPEAR IN COURT.

THEFT AND VAGRANCY CHARGES,

"A MIGHTY NARROW ESCAPE."

A trip to Panmure and Howick last Saturday afternoon which was made by four men and two young women in a motor lorry had its sequel at the Police Court this morning, when five of the party appeared on various charges. . Charles Henry Whitehead (30), Maurice Joseph Corkery (27), Raymond Woodward (32), and Olive Peters (30) and Gwendoline Lewis (24) were each charged with being idle and disorderly persons who habitually consorted with reputed thieves. The three men wore further charged with stealing a quantity of meat and a woman's skirt, of a total value of £2 15/. Mr. J. J. Sullivan appeared for Woodward, Whitehead and the two women, while Mr. Alan Smyth represented Corkery. The five pleaded not guilty. d Meat Safe Robbed. The licensee of the Panmuro Hotel, Hugh McNaughton, said the meat safe at the rear of the premises; was forced open last Saturday afternoonj a quantity of meat, comprising a side of lamb and a fillet of beef, being etolen, while from a room upstairs a skirt belonging to his wife was taken. He saw the three male accused at his hotel during the afternoon. They afterwards left in a truck in the direction of Howick. Witness found a chisel near the safe. Acting-Detective Kelly said he visited the Howick Hotel Jate on Saturday afternoon. Corkery called witness and complained that he .had lost two tenshilling notes from his pocket. Corkery told witness he had driven the other male accused and a man named King there in his truck. Corkery added that he was "hard up" and in an awkward predicament. His lorry was in a, garage being repaired, and Corkery asked witness if lie would go to the garage and speak to the proprietor, so that he could get back to town. Witness searched the truck belonging to Corkery and found the skirt under the seat, and the meat in a sack. Accused said lie did not know how the stolen things came to be in his truck. Arrests on Sunday Night. Detective Hunt gave evidence of the arrest of the other four accused in a house in Union Street on Sunday night last. The woman Peters was Woodward's sister. Both lived in the house with their mother. Whitehead had been staying there for three days. The two men admitted that they had been to Panmure and Howick. They eaid the two women returned from Panmure in a motor car, and did not go oil to Howick. Corkery then gave evidence, in which he denied taking the meat and the skirt. Asked to explain why he was seen by the licensee of the Panmure Hotel going upstairs, accused said he had been asked by Woodward and Whitehead to go up and call one of the women down. "The others were all drunk and the women were singing and kicking up a noise," added Corkery. Witness said he carted a load of wood to Woodward's house on Saturday morning last. Woodward asked him inside and gave him a drink. Woodward then suggested that witness should drive them all down to Panmure the same afternoon. Corkery was cross-examined at some length by Chief Detective Hammond. He admitted that he had been in trouble before and that he had been in prison. The magistrate said he did not feel justified in convicting either Woodward or Whitehead on the theft charge. "These charges will be dismissed," said Mr. Hunt, "but I'm going to convict Corkery. He has told a long yarn- and this is the second time he has tried to put that kind of thing over me. Why, the last time he was here he tried to 6ay. his own wife "was responsible for a frameup against him." Corkery was then called as a witness against the other accused on the vagrancy and consorting charges. Evidence of Character. Several detectives described the arrest of the other four in Union Street. They said that a man named King, who was at Panmure and Howick with the others and was also in the house at Union Street, was a convicted thief who had recently finished a sentence of nine months. His previous sentence was one of seven years. He could not be found since Saturday. Whitehead and Woodward were both convicted thieves. Woodward did no work and admitted that he had been bookmaking. Corkery was also a convicted thief. The woman Lewis had been convicted of theft and Peters for forgery. Consorting Not Proved. Mr. J. J. Sullivan submitted that habitual consorting had not been proved by ithe evidence brought. There had o.nly been two occasions when the accused had been together—on Saturday and Sunday. Sir Robert Stout, a former Chief Justice, had (held that to be convicted of habitual consorting, the consorting must be so constant as to create a habit. Mr. Hunt said he would not convict any of the accused on the consorting charges, which he dismissed. Turning to Woodward and Whitehead, Mr. Hunt said: "Look here, you have both had a mighty narrow escape. If either of you come before me again you will go up to prison for a long stretch. If you are not either at work or qut of the town pretty soon I -will send you up." Woodward, who had admitted a charge of trespass on the Avondale racecourse when a race meeting was in progress, was then fined £2. Mr. Smyth asked the magistrate to treat accused as leniently as possible. He was a married man, and counsel hoped that Mr. Hunt would deal with him without sending him to gaol. Corkery was prepared to give up the lorry business and take out a prohibition order. If he was placed on probation his future would rest with himself. Drink had something to do with his trouble. Chief Detective Hammond said Corkery could earn good money as a French polisher, but he preferred to drive thieves round m his lorry. Mr. Hunt sentenced accused to three months' imprisonment.