BOOTS STOLEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 231, 30 September 1942, Page 4

BOOTS STOLEN

WATERSIDES LAPSE

TWO MONTHS IN PRISON

"The worst feature of this case is that the boots stolen by this man Wire being sent overseas to sol®ers," said Sub-Inspector Joyce, in the Police Court to-day, when he prosecuted Albert James Clark, aged 30, labourer and waterside worker, on a charge of stealing two pairs of boots valued at £2, the property of the I nion Steam Ship Company.

Clark, for whom Mr. I. J. Gold stine appeared, pleaded guilty.

Sub-Inspector Joyce said Clark was accosted by a constable as he was coming away from the wharves about 5.1.J p.m. last Friday. He was wearing .one pair of hoots, and carried the other pair with him in the cab of a truck. Questioned about possession of the boots Clark said he had bought them from a man on an overseas ship. He told the police it was their job to find out where he got them from, and refused to return with the police and point out the man who had given or sold him the boots. Clark had previously been before the court.

Accused, said Mr. Goldstine, was married and had a child of nine months. Counsel pointed out that Clark had not been in trouble for dishonesty since 19:51. It was obvious from his list of previous convictions that Clark's trouble had been due to drink. "On this occasion Clark had been drinking, and it was quite plain that he did not in anv way attempt to conceal the boots which he carried in his hands," added Mr. Goldstine. "As a matter of fact he instructs me that he did purchase the boots for 10/. They were offered to him and he bought them. The police searched his house, but found no stolen Roods there. Because of his condition due to liquor, he was not, in a position to appreciate the whole matter. Clark will suffer a severe penalty bv being stood down on the wharves "for the next six months. If given a chartce he is prepared to take out a prohibition order."

Sub-Inspector Joyce interposed that although Clark had taken some liquor last Friday he was not intoxicated when accosted by the police. "This was not a case of a theft on the spur of the moment," said the magistrate. "This man had his wits about him. Such a theft is grave in normal times, but at present when goods have to be taken across dangerous seas, the offence is much more serious. In fact it is a subversive thing to pillage goods which are being sent to soldiers. Clark does not come before me as a man with a clean sheet." Clark was sentenced to two months' imprisonment.