CARS CONVERTED AND DAMAGED

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22269, 7 December 1937, Page 7

CARS CONVERTED AND DAMAGED

FORTY-FIVE SEPARATE CHARGES YOUTHS COMMITTED TO INSTITUTIONS (PBESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, December 6. An "irresistible impulse" was advanced as the reason for the conversion of a large number of cars by two youths who appeared in the Magistrate's Court to-day. Arthur Henry Norris, a storeman, aged 19, and Leslie Archie Norris, a storeman, aged 17, faced 45 different charges of car conversion, the offences taking place between July 15 and November 27. The accused . pleaded guilty to all the charges. Imposing sentence this afternoon, the Magistrate (Mr W. F. Stillwell, S.M.) said: "It is quite clear that these two have had the advantages of good homes and an average education, and not apparently any undue liberty; yet it appears that by subterfuge and some degree of. lying they availed themselves of opportunities of appropriating these cars." This was no foolish escapade, but a course of conduct which manifested criminal tendencies. The elder boy was committed to the Borstal Institution for a term not exceeding two years on one charge, and ordered to come up for sentence on the others, if called upon within two years. The younger boy was committed to the care of the Child Welfare Department and directed to be placed and trained in Weraroa Training College for the first 18 months of his supervision by the department. Detective-Sergeant Doyle said that the accused had been in the habit of running cars into one another, and a number had their headlamps and other accessories smashed, and the axles of others had been bent. The value of the cars was £8641, and the damage to cars amounted to £476. Property to the value of £43 was missing from the cars. Treatment of Cars "The damage was done by running one car into another, or running them down banks, some of them striking trees," said the detective-sergeant. "It seems beyond comprehension why they were not detected earlier. All the cars were converted between 8 and 10.30 p.m., and in 90 per cent, of the cases the vehicles had been abandoned before the owners discovered their loss. By the time the matter was reported to the police the offenders were home in bed." When the accused appeared previously before the Court it had been represented that they had taken 100 cars, but they were charged with 45 offences only. "All that I can say in their favour is that they have been the essence of frankness," said the detective-sergeant. "The younger boy, no doubt, has been led into these matters by the influence of his older brother." Counsel for the accused - said the elder brother had been a victim of some irresistible impulse. That was the impression he (counsel) had gathered. There was some basis to this impulse, which at the moment was beyond the comprehension of the ordinary layman. But for the leadership of his brother, the younger boy would not be standing in the dock.