STOLE FROM HOST

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 91, 17 April 1943, Page 7

STOLE FROM HOST

OFFENCE BY SOLDIER

SENTENCE OF THREE MONTHS The theft of 9/ in money and 121b of sugar, of a total value of 15/, was admitted by a soldier, Ronald Keir Duncan, 39, when he appeared before Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday.

Senior-Detective Walsh said Duncan was befriended by a man who took him to his home and kept him for several days. Duncan told the man he had just come out of hospital and had no where to go.

"After staying for a few days, Duncan repaid the hospitality of his host by stealing money out of his trouser pocket and taking a quantity of sugar from the house," added Mr. Walsh. "The sugar was sold by Duncan to a man in a hotel. Complainant's wife missed £22 from her handbag which she left at home, but this money, not being identifiable, a charge respecting it could not be brought against Duncan. He has a long list of previous convictions." "Apart from the very formidable list you possess, you have been in prison on several occasions," the magistrate told Duncan. "I have to impose a term of imprisonment when a soldier, after being befriended, abuses hospitality by stealing. By doing this you are 'queering the pitch' of genuine cases and hardening the hearts of people who want to be soft-hearted."

Duncan was sentenced to three months' imprisonment.