HOUSES SET ON FIRE

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24632, 31 July 1945, Page 6

HOUSES SET ON FIRE

* MAN COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE THEFT CHARGES ALSO ADMITTED (P.A:) AUCKLAND. July 30. Four charges of wilfully setting fire to dwelling houses were preferred against Ronald Dempsey Crook, aged 33. described as a labourer,. in the Magistrate’s Court to-day before Justices of the Peace. Other charges were of breaking and entering the four houses concerned and stealing articles of a total value of £430. Crook was further charged with breaking and entering a fifth house at Takapuna and stealing goods to the value of £43. Crook pleaded guilty to all charges and was committed to the Supreme Ccurt for sentence, . Detective-Sergeant Fell said the total damag% by the four fires was approximately £7383 to houses and * approximately £5432 to the contents, making a total of £12,815. Insurance assessors gave details of Insurances on the four houses damaged, and estimates of the damage by the fires. The value of one house before the fire was £6OOO, and the cost of reinstating the house .was given at net less than £2833. The contents were damaged to the extent of £2500. Another house was also valued at £6OOO. and the cost of reinstatement was put at £I4OO, with £BO damage to the contents. The cost of reinstating the third house was £2OOO, with damage to the contents at £740. At the fourth house the contents were damaged to the extent of £6OO. Statement by Accused Detective-Sergeant Fell produced a statement made by the accused, in which he 'said: "On June 20 I went by tram to Victoria avenue, intending to see a man to whom I owed 10s. On the way down I called at Mrs Dransfleld’s place to inquire where the man lived, but there was no one at home. I walked down as far as the man’s place, but decided 1 would not give him the 10s back. I had the spike a bit, and went back and set fire to Dransfield’s place I broke a glass panel In the front door with my fist, and opened the lock Upstairs I saw a lot of nice things the house had, and thought I would take some." Accused then told how he put a number of articles in a suitcase before setting fire to the house In two wardrobes upstairs. “I lit a match and held it to a thin silk dress until Reared up, and then I went to other rooms and lit some dresses in the wardrobes,” continued the statement. "1 closed the doors of the wardrobes after lighting the fires and went downstairsi I packed the silver in a case and left the house, closing the front door.” Gave Fire Alarm Accused then detailed how he telephoned for a taxi, and then gave the fire alarm. He got into the taxi and drove back to the house, got out, and had a look at the fire, and then drove to the city. “I had the same sort of idea m my head on the night of June 23.” said Crook. “Just after 9 o’clock I walked down Victoria avenue and saw a house, No. 17, in darkness. I knocked on the door to see if anyone was there. No one answered, and I pushed in the glass near the lock and opened the door. Inside I did just what I did at Mrs Dransfleld’s. Just before I went out I started a fire in a wardrobe upstairs. I just struck a match and set fire to dresses.” Accused then said he walked to the top of Victoria avenue, and when he did not see the fire going, returned to the house. Later he gave the alarm himself from a call box before getting on a tram for the city. "On June 30 I had the ’ same sort of idea, and because I had been looking up the directory and knew Cohens lived there. I don’t like Jews, and sorted him out because of his name, Cohen. I went to this house just after 9 p.m., after telephoning from the corner and getting no answer. I broke a glass panel in the front door, and inside did the same thing again.” War Bond Burned Accused said the articles taken from this house • included business papers, bank books, an overcoat, a bottle of liquor, and an £BOO war bond. Again a fire was started by lighting clothing in an upstairs wardrobe He said the war bond and the papers were later burned, while the suitcase and keys were sunk in the harbour. Telling of a fire at Herne Bay on July 9, the accused said he went to that district to see a man, but got lost, and finally found himself in Sarsfield street. No. 53 was in darkness, and when no ’one answered his knock he broke a glass panel and opened the door. After taking a number of articles he started a fire among dresses in a wardrobe, Some of the articles stolen from the houses were sold in Auckland and Wellington. In a second statement the accused said he had intended to set fire to a house at Takapuna, but decided not to do so as it was not owned by a man named Cohen as he thought. At the conclusion of the evidence accused pleaded guilty to all charges and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. '