ROBBERY CHARGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 35, 11 February 1935, Page 9

ROBBERY CHARGE.

ATTACK IN MOTOR CAR

FARM WORKERS' ALLEGATION

TWO MEN ON TBIAIj.

Charged with attacking a Manurewa farm labourer, William Joseph Holland, and robbing him of the sum of £8 10/ at Penrose on January 5, two young men, Harold Ormonde Hill, aged 23, panel beater', and George Quinn", aged 27, salesman, stood their trial at the Supreme Court this morning, before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury. There were alternative charges of robbery and of theft. Mr. V. N. Hubble prosecuted, Mr. L. F. Rudd appeared for Hill, and Mr. A. Moody for Quinn.

Mr. Hubble explained that the first two charges had the element of violence, while the third, of theft, was in the same category as pocket-picking. It was alleged, lie said, that Holland came to town on January 5 and about 8. o'clock at night in a hotel met the accused and another man. Holland, in paying for a round of drinks, took out his wallet, in which he had about £9. Later in the evening the four went to a dance at Newmarket, and when Holland, about midnight, decided to go home to Manurewa, the three men said they would drive him. When the car reached Penrose it took a wrong turning and it was stopped. Just as it stopped, according to Holland, he felt a blow behind the left ear, and he remembered nothing more until he woke up on the roadside. Then he found that the money had vanished from his wallet. "Third Man Not Before Court." Mr. Hubble said Hill had been driving the car and Quinn sitting alongside Holland in front. It appeared from the evidence that the blow was struck from behind by the third man, who was sitting there. He had not been identified and was not before the Court, but that did not concern the jury. If they accepted the evidence the two accused were parties to the offence. Evidence would be called to show that the accused had been seen in company with Holland at the hotel. Quinn, in a statement to a detective, added Mr. Hubble, admitted having been in the company of Hill, but refused to say what he did that night. Hill admitted driving Holland- out to Penrose, and said that Holland there fell when getting out of the car. Then Hill admitted the third man took the money from Holland's wallet, giving him £2, George Quinn £2 and keeping the rest himself*