THEFT CHARGES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25450, 23 March 1948, Page 3

THEFT CHARGES

ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

Henry Herbert Pearce, a carpenter, aged 45, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court before Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., yesterday, on’three charges. The first two charges were of stealing two women’s bi* cycles, the property of Ellen Elizabeth Taylor and Catherine Thomson Ross. The bicycles were valued at £lO and £ll respectively, and the thefts were alleged to have taken place in 1946. The third Charge was of breaking and entering by day the house of Alan Hunter Patrick, at 72 Louisa street, Invercargill, on Jfine 2, 1947, and stealing, a radio set, two alarm clocks, a bicycle lamp, and a man’s hat and coat. The value of .these articles was £36. Pearce pleaded -not guilty to the. two theft charges and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. On the third charge he was remanded to Invercargill on March 24.

Catherine Thomson Ross, a machinist, said that she had put her bicycle in a stand at the rear of the premises where' she worked in September, 1946. When she finished work for the day the machine was missing. She told the police. Later, the police took her to 47 Forfar street, St. Albans, where she saw the bicycle and identified it as her own.

Harras Stanley Stockdill, a machinist) of 47 Forfar street, said that he answered an- advertisement in a newspaper concerning the sale of a woman’s bicycle. This was op rTztlHf. price asked was £7 10s. On September 13, when he returned from his work, he found a woman’s bicycle at his house and a note under the door saying that, the vendor would call in the evening. In the evening a man called and agreed to sell the machine for £6 10s. Before he took the machine, said Stockdill, he rode it to the <St. Albans Police Station, and was told that no information concerning the loss of a bicycle of that type had been lodged there. He returned to his house and bought the bicycle. The man who sold him the bicycle gave him a receipt for the sale, and signed it Walshe, Rose street. Spreydon. Later he made inquiries at the number of the house in Rose street given on the receipt and found that no person of that name lived there. He informed the police of this and handed over the bicycle to them. David Gordon McKenzie Simpson, a police sergeant, of Christchurch, said that he investigated the loss of the cycle. As a result of inquiries he called to see accused on January 24, 1947, informing him that an identification parade would take place at the Central Police Station at 2.30 that afternoon. Accused was working for Messrs P. Graham and Sons, contractors, at this time. When interviewed he was wearing painter’s -overalls. He said that he was willing to attend the parade, and asked if h# might change his overalls. He was given permission to do this, and after that could not be found, although a search was made for him. WitP, ess , h3(S .9 ot seen accused again until March 2, 1948, when he saw him at the Central Police Station, where he had Informed Pearce that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Francis Joseph O’Halloran, a police sergeant, of Christchurch, said that pn March 9, 1948, he had shown accused a letter to the Manpower Office, written in December, 1945. Accused said that he had written the letter, and that the handwriting was his.

Raymond James George Collins, an officer of the Army, who had had specimens of accused’s handwriting submitted to him as . 35 the or igt na l of advertisements which appeared in the newspaper, said that the handwriting in each case bore identical characteristics, and that all the specimens appeared to be written by the same person. Ellen Elizabeth Taylor, a shop assistant, said that she left her bicycle in the right-of-way beside Armstrong’s, in Armagh street, in July, 1946. It had disappeared. She reported the loss to the police.

Herbert Maxwell Taylor, a pensioner, brother of the previous witness, said that he recognised his sister's bicycle leaning against a post in Colombo street, Sydenham, in October,‘“l946. He Informed the police and-'investigations were carried out.

Mary Perham, a married woman, of 368 Wilson’s road, Beckenham, said that she had purchased the bicycle from accused, who advertised it for sale in a newspaper. He had called on her and said that it was his daughter’s machine, and that he had taken an hour off wosk to sell it for her. The sale took place in August, 1946. On October 18 she had ridden the bicycle to Sydenham and had left it outside a shop. When she came out of - the shop she was questioned by the police concerning the ownership of the bicycle. Sergeants Simpjpn and O’Halloran, and Captain Collins, repeated their evidence.