MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23582, 9 March 1942, Page 3

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

SATURDAY (Before Mr F. F. Reid, S.M.) ALLEGED THEFT OF CYCLE Daniel. William Charles Everest, a labourer, aged 2(5 years, of ton street, was charged with stealing, on March 6, a bicycle valued at £7, the property of some person unknown. Asking' the Court for a remand, SubInspector E. T. C. Turner said that there were inquiries being made aoout another stolen cycle. Accused was on licence from a Borstal institution, he added. . , Everest elected to be tried by juo> and was remanded until March 12. CHILDREN’S COURT 24 CHARGES AGAINST TWO BOYS / Twenty charges of breaking and entering and theft, and four charges of committing mischief, were preferred against two boys before Mr F. F. Reid S.M., and Mrs T. Green. J.P. Detective N. Thompson said .that most of the entrances to buildings had been made by breaking windows. In some cases the damage was shocking” he said, describing how damage to the extent of £49 had been done at one place. On other premises the boys had fought with pounds of butter, and had also broken doors with an axe and a sledge hammer, the damage totalling almost £7O. he stated.. For the accused. Mr A. C. Brassington said that thy had not been in trouble of any description until last November. The parents did not know anything about the happenings, he said. He considered that the boys had been impressed by a serial ftlnv showing at a city theatre and also by several American pictures they had seen recently. Their mother had told him that the boys had been using seme quite new gangster expressions, which he had not heard in Christchurch before. said Mr Brassington. . Asking the Court for leniency, he said that the father of the children was looking for premises outside the The case was adjourned for three months, and decision in the matter of restitution was reserved. , . The same two boys and a third, faced two more charges of breaking and entering, and two of committing mischief. Mr J. K. Moloney, who appeared for the third boy, said that they had been affected by radio thrillers and pictures which had confused their ideas of right and wrong. . The Magistrate: Behind that is . the thing we have always complained about—lack of parental control. The case against the two boys was adjourned for three months, and the charges against the other boy were adjourned until September. “Do you realise how. serious this matter is? You may have thought that you were doing something clever, but the fact remains that you are just a common thief,’’ said Mr Reid, ordera boy, aged 15i years, to be placed under the supervision of the Lima Welfare Officer for 12 months. The boy was charged' with stealing more than £2OO in money from letters. It was stated that he took about two dozen letters altogether. Accused mitted the theft, and was orderea to make restitution of £9 14s 9d. I warn you that if you get into trouble again, you won’t be dealt with so leniently as you have been this morning,” said Mr Reid.