THEFT OF CAR

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25179, 9 May 1947, Page 5

THEFT OF CAR

ATTEMPT TO DISGUISE MAKE VERDICT OF GUILTY IN SUPREME COURT Jeffrey Corbett, a labourer, aged 26, was found guilty in the Supreme Court yesterday on a charge of the theft of an Austin motor-car, valued at £350, the property of George- Leslie Charman, on October 17, 1946. The jury returned the verdict after a retirement of about 50 minutes, and Mr Justice Fleming remanded Corbett for sentence. Accused, who was represented by Mr E. M. Hay, faced an alternative charge of receiving the car,, knowing that it had been obtained dishonestly. Mr A. W. Brown appeared for the Crown. George Leslie Charman, a bank clerk, said that he bought an Austin seven car in 1937, and on October 16 last he had noted the numbers of the tyres because of the number of car thieves about. ,A night later the car was stolen. He gave the engine and chassis numbers to the police. On February 26, when he was called to the police station, he saw a car which did not resemble his because of alterations made to it, but he recognised it as his property by several distinguishing features such as two metal plates on the door. The whole top of the car had been cut off and replaced by a canvas hood. The engine and chassis numbers had been filed off and the radiator replaced by a wire grill with a plate labelled “Singer" attached. Repairs would cost about £2OO, but unfortunately could not be done at present. To Mr Hay. the witness said that if he had seen the car stopped on the street he would have been able to recognise it by the metal plates he had affixed to the doors. When the car was stolen it had done 19,600 miles, and now the mileage had gone up to about 20,500 miles. Detective L. D. Harrowfield told of sending a special notice to police stations in connexion with the alleged theft of Charman's car. In spite of extensive searches by the police, the car had not been traced until four months later. Sergeant J. B. Kearton, official police photographer, gave details of how the engine numbers had been removed.and oth r attempts made to obliterate the Austin insignia. Clerks in the motor registration branch Of the Christchurch Post Office, Ernest John Maurice Gunther and. Richard Henry Trevella, gave evidence of receiving registration and transfer of ownership applications concerning the car on October 31. Work on Radiator Grill Leslie Calvert, managing director of Calverts, Ltd., sheetmetal workers, said that he recognised the radiator grill on the car as a job which had been done by his firm. He recalled the work but not the person—he had had to. look up the job card and found that the name on it was Corbett. The manager of Calverts, Ltd., Raymoni Leslie Calvert, stated that he could not identify the man who brought the job in, but he had been given the name Corbett, which had been placed on the job card. Robert James Wood, a motor mechanic, said he had known accused for seven or eight years, and he had sometimes given him spare parts, which included a piece of sheet metal. When shown the car, he had seen that some material of the same type as he had given accused had been used on it. To Mr Hay, he said that the metal he had given to ac-. - cused was not uncommon. Robert Keith Crawford, a workshop foreman, said that he had examined the car and found that some of the parts were Austin, although they had been changed. The alterations looked as though they had been done by an amateur. To Mr Hay, he said that in its original condition the car would have been worth £350 to-day, but in its present state he would not like to put a price on it. The alterations would not have taken long to carry out—probably two week-ends work, he said. Acting-Detective E. A. Stevens gave details of how the car had been found and accused—who claimed to have bought it for £l73—had been arrested. He had declined to make a statement at the police station but offered to discuss the matter with detectives. He had remarked: “I realise that I am in a tough position, being found in possession of this car. I can clear myself of the theft, but it will involve two or three others and I am not prepared to do this." One of the conditions of accused's release on bail by the Lower Court was that he report to the police daily and sign the reporting-in book. He had seen accused write the name Jeffrey Corbett in the book on severQuestioned'S by Mr Hay, he denied having told Corbett that he "Was in a tough Spot,” but said he had told him that he was in an awkward position because the stolen car was in his possession. Similar evidence about the finding of the car and the arrest were given -by Acting-Detective E. C. B:‘ Rundle. He had not told Corbett during the interview that he was in a tough spot. Bank Officer's Evidence An officer of the Bank of New Zealand, Ralph Crosby Stone, said he had compared writing on the registration and transfer forms and figures and letters on a newspaper advertisement form, with signatures and figures written in the police reporting book by accused. There was a marked similarity in several points. The signature. J. Lowery, in one exhibit was an obvious attempt to disguise the handwriting. As there were so many similarities, the writing was all probably done by the same person, said the witness, \gho stated that while he did not set himself up as a handwriting expert, he had examined signatures closely for many years. No evidence was called for the defence. Mr Hay said in his address to the jury that both charges faced by accused were serious ones which carried heavy penalties. Evidence submitted by the Crown was mostly circumstantial. Between the time the car had gone missing and the time it was found in accused's possession, it had travelled about 900 miles and had been extensively altered. He suggested that the evidence showed that the car was not in Corbett’s possession until December. A rather extraordinary feature of the case was that none of the four witnesses who. had the opportunity of identifying accused had been able to do so. Tt was a wonder that the person who signed the name Corbett on the job card for the radiator had not been called to give evidence. "It must be a mystery to you how the name Corbett appeared, he said. No evidence of handwriting had been called in the Magistrate’s Court, continued lyir Hay. This was a last-minute attempt to bolster up a weak case, and was a type of evidence open to criticism and scepticism. Mr Hay suggested that there was no evidence to convict on the charge of theft. The Crown had to prove "guilty knowledge" before the second one of receiving could be sustained. Summing up, his Honour stated that the case was an interesting one and the jury was dealing with a clever customer, whoever he might be. The car had definitely been stolen and found in Corbett's possession. He claimed to have bought it from J. Lowery after a short trial run, but had not said anything about the alterations. "Anyone but a born fool could tell that the car had been altered, but not very expertly," said his Honour. "If you wanted a car and came upon a reasonably-priced one which had been camouflaged in this way surely you would have as£ed some questions.”