TWO MEN ESCAPE FROM GAOL

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23802, 23 November 1942, Page 6

TWO MEN ESCAPE FROM GAOL

RECAPTURE IN NELSON DISTRICT (P.A.) 'NELSON, November 21. A pursuit lasting tor three days and two nights resulted in Philip George Karaitiana and James William Leon Lewis, who broke out of the Nelson gaol during Tuesday night, being recaptured. The chase ended in an orchard to which the men had been tracked. One of them, it was believed, posesssed a shotgun, but no attempt was made to use It. Unable to break through the cordon of police and residents, the men were The search started on Wednesday morning, when detectives left Nelson to foi--. low up clues in the country. Two cars had been found abandoned at Bright-' water. Apparently the wanted men made their, way ■ Mfik on foot to the .neighbourhood* of-Richmond. Securing a boat, they roW«ptO' Babbit Island. After spending some-time there they crossed the channel to Mapua. The residents had been warned, and the sight of two men passing through the countryside, one carrying a shotgun, aroused suspicion. During the evening the men were reported to have entered an orchard at Tasman. A cordon of police and residents was placed round the orchard. Karaitiana and Lewis appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday on two charges of breaking, entering, and theft, and one charge of converting a car at Blenheim. Mr Justice Northcroft asked the men why, so soon after- being discharged from gaol, they had undertaken further burglaries. Lewis said that when he was released he did not have his levy book, and could not get a job. He was unable to stay anywhere. He could not book in without a coupon book and could not do anything. Karaitiana had nothing to say. His Honour asked the Crown Prosecutor to investigate these matters. It might be. he said, that the men offended because of difficulties in their way. Perhaps there was not sufficient assistance given to help them to retake their place in the community. It could not be - easy for them. His Honour commented that the rapidity with which the accused relapsed suggested a delect in the handling of their discharge They must have realised when they undertook these burglaries that the Court would view them gravely. He did not propose to declare them habitual criminals in view of the circumstances Lewis mentioned, which would be investigated. In the circumstances he thought that justice would be done by sentencing the accused to imprisonment with hard labour for 18 mont.is on each charge, the sentences to be concurrent. He added that he had completely ignored prison breaking. Subsequently, in the Magistrate’s Court, Karaitiana and Lewis were charged that they were deemed to be incorrigible rogues within the meaning of the Police Offences Act, in that they broke opt of the Nelson gaol on November 18. They were remanded to appear on Wednesday.