MAN COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27097, 21 July 1953, Page 6

MAN COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

ALLEGED BREAKING AND ENTERING

FURTHER CHARGE OF BEING ACCESSORY

Pleading not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to charges that on July 4 he broke and entered the warehouse of the Wairewa Dairy Company at Little River and committed theft, and that he was an accessory after the fact of breaking and entering, in that he assisted Leslie James Amtman and Victor Kirner to escape, John Johnston, aged 42, a painter contractor (Mr B. McCelland) was committed to the Supreme Court for trial by Mr F. F. Reid, S.M. He elected trial by jury. James Galt Mitchell, the manager of the company’s factory, said that on Saturday, July 4, he worked in the factory in the cheese curing room. Several cheeses were on the landing stage with several chests of tea. When he left the factory everything was in order. As the result of what he was told by Constable Cromie he went to the factory about 12.30 a-m. on the Sunday, where he found that a bar across a window in the curing room had been forced and that three cheeses which had been directly under the window were missing. On the landing stage, which was in andther part of the room, he found six cheeses. Two chests of tea were also on the stage, but they were not in the same positions as they had been when he left the previous day. The double doors on the landing were shut but not bolted. He could tell the chests of tea had been moved by the rust marks on the floor. Constable William Alexander Cromie, of Little River, said that about 11,20 p.m. on July 4 he was on the main road at Little River when he saw the lights of a car approaching from the direction of Cooptown and Akaroa. The car made a sudden stop and turned at the war memorial gates and then headed back towards Akaroa. At 11.40 p.m. he again saw a. car approaching the township. It turned off the main road into a side road leading to the railway yards and after travelling for about four chains it came to a stop and the lights went out.

Deciding to investigate he took a short cut alongside a (butchery belonging to a Mr Stanbury. When he came round the rear of the shop two men who were close to the back windows ran away towards the railway yards. One man turned half round and shouted what seemed to him to be “Make a break for it.” He chased the men to a parked car and he stood by the door to prevent the driver from getting in the driving seat. While he was discussing their behaviour, a third man appeared out of the shrubbery. While they were talking at the car he noticed a large wooden box in the back of the car. It had a label with “Wairewa Dairy Company, Little River,” attached to it. It was similar to that produced in Court. When he was on the left-hand side of the car he saw a similar box. He thought there were two boxes in the car. Eventually the men got in and the car was driven off in the direction of Coop town and Akaroa. Accused was one of the men he chased from behind the butchery. Interview with Accused Acting-Detective Ernest Stanley Tuck said that on July 5 with De-tective-Sergeant Ward he went to see accused at his home. Accused said he had left home about 2.30 p.m. on the Saturday to go crayfishing. He had remained at a bay between Takamatua and Duvauchelle until 8.30 p.m. when he left to go back to Christchurch. He was alone at the time. About three hours later, while he was on his way back he had trouble with his headlights. Shortly after he had reached the bottom of the Hilltop road the lights again gave trouble and while he was fixing them two men approached and asked for a ride to Christchurch. They were carrying a case which they put in the back seat of the car.

Johnston said that while he was going through Little River the lights again failed, and he got out to fix them again, said witness. While he was doing so a man who said he was a constable came along and asked him some questions about the car and the chest in the back, and it was then that he noticed for the first time it was a chest of tea. Shortly afterwards they drove off. About three miles out of Little River the lights failed again and while he was fixing them the two men left the car with the chest. He did not know who they were. They were strangers to him. Acting-Detective Tuck said accused accompanied him and DetectiveSergeant Ward to the detective office to verify his story. On the way, when questioned, he sais he knew nothing of the breaking and entering. When he had teft the constable at Little River he had gone on to Christchurch. Detective-Sergeant Ward had telephoned Constable Cromie who said that when the car left him it was not heading towards Christchurch and that the chest of tea he had seen in the back of the car was back in the factory an hour later. Johnston was then charged with breaking and entering. Acting-Detective Tuck said he was in Court when Amtman and Kirner were fined £lO each for breaking and entering the factory. Both men were known to the accused. One of them was a foreman painter employed by accused.

Detective-Sergeant Eric Gladstone Ward corroborated this evidence. After accused was arrested further inquiries were made. Interviewed again, accused said he left Christchurch about 8 p.m. on the Saturday with two companions to go crayfishing. At Little River he left these men to see another person. When he returned about 10,30 p.m. the two men had a chest. He pulled up in the car down a side street and endeavoured to persuade them to return it to the factory. After the interview with the constable he took the men to return the tea to the factory. The two men with Johnston were located and after the first Court hearing both men made statements that they had broken into the factory and that accused had not been present at that time, said Detective-Sergeant Ward.