MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23360, 20 June 1941, Page 10

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

. THURSDAY (Before Mr E. C. Lewey, SJM.) ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE

Douglas Walter . Uren, , aged 18, pleaded guilty to two charges of robbery with violence and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. The charges were that (1) he robbed Dorothy McDowell of a handbag find contents worth 14s and at the same time or immediately before such robbery did use personal 'Violence towards' her”; (2) he robbed Lorna Gates of a handbag and contents worth £3 10s, in the same way. Detective-Sergeant J. McClung prosecuted, Mrs Lorna Gates, of Nelson, in evidence, said that on May 20 she was in Christchurch, and after going to the’ pictures returned to Opawa. She was walking along and a man passed her, leaned his bicycle against the fCnce, punched her on the jaw, and knocked her down. Witness did not remember getting home after that, Dorothy McDowell, a training college student, , aged 10, said that soon after 7; p.m. on 'Monday, June 2, she was walking along Rolleston .avenue from the Antigua street bridge, A cyclist • who had passed. her on the bridge passed* her again in the avenue, riding slowly and looking lack. When witness was nearthe Chester street corner of Park terrace the man approached her with I '*a 'card and said: “Excuse me; can you tell me where this address is?” Witness asked, “What address?” and was immediately struck with “several severe blows.” As a result she spent several days in. bed. Dr. D. McK. Dickson gave evidence of attending to Miss McDowell. She had a deep cut, ‘ three-quarters of an inch long, in her upper lip, two front teeth were cracked, and there was. a large bump on her-forehead, he ; said. Albert Charles Carttermole, of Kaiapoi, ■ gave evidence of hearing screams and cries for help in Park terrace on June 2. On approaching,, the corner oiChester street he, saw a cyclist disappearing and then found Miss; McDowell standing with a woman. Miss McDowell said she had been attacked, and witness then helped her into Helen Connon>: Hall. He picked up a yellow card on the spot where Miss McDowell had been attacked. Detective Norman Thompson produced a statement made to him by Uren describing ■ his attack on Miss McDowell Uren said he saw her and decided to steal ? her bag fp i get money to gorto'me hit her because she screamed.’ The card he had used was an outpatient's registration card. ■ 1 , Constable D; S. Paterson produced a statement madeuby Uren . about his attack on Mrs .Gates, in which he said *he'had hit her on - the shoulder to .paralyse the atm , and get the! bag. There were several summary charges read against Uren, in.which!he was hays handbag*; (the

values' given below in -parenthesis) from the following:—MurieT Clarke (£3 3's 6d). Mary Catherine Anderson (30s), Doris Christina Evans (£7), Alice Anhe Chapman (£2 11s 6d), Doreen Sylvia Mann (15s), .Alison Winifred Jean Thomson (£4O 16s 9d), Monica Hickey (10s). He was also charged with assaulting Monica Hickey. SLY GROG SELLING Leonard Banks Syme and Roland Richard Beckley, both of Mount Somers, were each fined £SO for sly-grog selling. Detective-Sergeant McClung said that Syme had a boarding-house at Mount Somers and 19 dozen bottles of ale were found there. Beckley was a miner, earning £1 a day, and 23 dozen were found in his possession. Mr J. W. M. Dart, representing each accused, said they did not make a living out of liquor, but were subject to great temptation, because the district was "dry,” and could have no licence now unless the law was altered. There was a shifting .population in the mine and quarries, and the people wanted beer, so the blame was more on them. The two accused had been agents for a hotel, he said. The Magistrate described the penalties as “the usual for first offenders.’ OBSCENE LANGUAGE James McKay (Mr. J. A. Kennedy), was convicted of using obscene language and of breaking a window-pane worth 11s, the property ,of William Albert Back, his brother-in-law, ordered to come up for sentence if called on within 12 months, and to repay 11s within seven days. Back said that McKay came to ms house, drunk, and swore violently when Vitness would not let him in. Walter Henry Sibley described hearing the language from his parked car, in the street It was about 11.30 p.m., he said. ~ „ Mr Kennedy said the language looked worse on paper than it really W The Magistrate told McKay he had better pull himself together.

LICENSING LAWS Walter Bernard Dudson, former licensee /Of the New Albion Hotel, was fined £5 for selling liquor after hours. Mr E. S. Bowie said Dudson had sold the hotel when the offence occurred. Frederick Ahern was fined £2, and William Cook was fined 20s, for being unlawfully in the hotel. _ Percy Curtis, licensee of the Gresham Hotel, was fined £2 for selling liquor after hours, and his barman, Francis Neilson, was fined £6 for supi plying it. Mr C.S. Thomas appeared and entered a plea of guilty for Curtis. Sub-Inspector . E. T. C. Turner said that 14 persons were found in the. hotel, some, with liquor,. and none being a lodger. The licensee was away at the time. -, , Mr Thomas said that Neilson had admitted friends, against Curtis’s instructions, and had since been dismissed. NAMES SUPPRESSED A young woman; whose name was suppressed wasconvicted <jClalsepre-*

tences, having taken goods in a shop and entered them on the account of someone she knew, and she was ordered to come up for sentence if called on within 12 months. Restitution of £6, covering goods involved in two similar charges, was ordered to be made within seven days. After De-tective-Sergeant McClung had described the procedure by which accused had obtained the goods, Mr D. W. Russell asked for suppression of her name, outlining her domestic circumstances, and this was granted. A youth whose name, was ordered to be suppressed appeared on a charge of being unlawfully on enclosed premises on June 13. For accused, Mr R. A. Young said that he was being held under mental observation. The youth was further remanded for a week. ADMITTED TO PROBATION

Mary Jane. Greenbank, a domestic, aged 19, appeared on three charges of theft—of stealing one coat valued at 12s 6d, the property of Eileen Mary Mitchell, and two hats valued at 8s lid and 4s lid, the property of Millers Ltd. Accused, who had been remanded so that the Magistrate could hear the report of the probation officer, was admitted to probation on the first charge and convicted and discharged on the others. She was ordered to return the goods, BREACH OF PROBATION

Lawrence Chapman Withers appeared on the charge of a breach of probation. The probation officer (Mr W. H. Darby) said that accused had obtained £lB 14s 7d by false pretences in 1938 and had been ordered to make restitution. There had been a great deal of trouble in the collection of this amount. Mr D. W. Russell said that the accused was running a cafe, and because of the pressure of business had been backward in making contact with the probation officer. Defendant had no criminal tendencies whatever, he said. .An order was made for the restitution of the outstanding amount, £1 4s 9d. REMANDED Arthur Edward, Vincent Levvey, aged 17 years (Mr J. T. Watts), was charged with stealing a handbag and contents valued at £3 3s 6d, the property of Muriel Clarke, and a. handbag and: contents valued at £2 10s, the property of Mary Catherine Anderson. Accused was remanded to Monday,, and bail was granted in his own recognisance of £SO, with one surety of £SO, ‘