LICENSING CHARGES DISMISSED

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22050, 25 March 1937, Page 4

LICENSING CHARGES DISMISSED

OCEAN VIEW HOTEL CASE

Stating that he was satisfied with the story of the defendant, Mr F. F Reid, S.M., dismissed three charges against John Steel, licensee of the Ocean View Hotel, in a reserved decision announced at a sitting of the Lyttelton Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. The charges against Steel were selling liquor after hours, keeping the premises open after hours, and exposing liquor for sale after hours on February 21. i„, ■ , „„, Charges against Albert Edward Ellis. Allan Walton, Anthony Farrelly and Edward King, of being on licensed premises after hours, were also dismissed. . , . .„ Steel was convicted at the last sitting of the court at Lyttelton for selling liquor after hours, on a different charge, after a raid earlier in the afternoon on the same day, and he was fined £4. : In announcing his decision, the magistrate said that he could see no reason why he should not accept the story put forward by defendant. The visit paid by King and Ellis to the hotel could well be termed a social visit, and he could see no reason for doubting the truth of the visit of Walton, an old friend of Steel's.

Referring to the money which, had been found on the bar counter, the magistrate said that it was not usual to find a licensee paying for drinks in this manner so early, but the whole circumstances seemed to justify the assumption, that Steel would pay for the drinks of his friends. As for the glasses found on the counter, the hotel had already been raided earlier in the day and Steel had stated in evidence that after the first raid, he had immediately locked up the bar. This seemed to explain the finding of the glasses on the bar counter when the police visited the hotel for the second time that afternoon.

The only other feature which helped to justify the story of the accused was that it was quite common in cases of this type for the story told by th 6 accused party to the police at the time, to differ from the story told in court. In this case the evidence given in court was exceptionally true to the story told to the police at the time of the raid. He was satisfied that the story of the accused was a genuine one.