MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27400, 13 July 1954, Page 9

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

MONDAY (Before Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M.) INTOXICATED DRIVER FINED Charles Alfred Ownsworth, aged 37, a wood merchant, was convicted and fined £l5, on a charge that on July 8, while under the influence of liquor, he was in charge of a truck in Cashel street. Ownsworth, for whom Mr J. A. Bretherton appeared, pleaded not guilty to the charge. Evidence was given by Constable R. C. Gibb that shortly after midnight on July 8 he saw accused asleep in a truck in Cashel street. He attempted to wake accused but could not. He considered Ownsworth might be intoxicated so called a patrol car. Ownsworth was wakened and when he got out of the truck his breath smelt of liquor and he was unsteady on his feet. Witness said he did not consider accused was fit to drive. Constable E. T. Mora said he was on duty in the watchhouse. Accused told him he had had about six beers and had worked 14 hours that day and had nothing to eat since lunch. Considering the amonut of liquor he had taken, the hours he had worked and the food he had consumed, he considered he was not fit to drive a car. Similar evidence was given by Sergeant H. McLean. Dr. F. L. Scott said he considered accused was not fit to drive but in answer to Mr Bretherton, said he was not a very bad case. Mr Bretherton said Ownsworth had worked long hours that day and after finishing work had consumed a few beers with a friend who had driven him to his truck. The battery of the truck was flat and as it was raining hard he entered the trupk and went to sleep. Accused earned his livelihood as a wood merchant and if he was deprived of his licence he would

suffer hardship. The Magistrate said that in such cases licences- were usually suspended but he would take account what his counsel had said and not suspend it on this occasion. It appeared that Ownsworth knew he was under the influence of liquor and tried to sleep it off. NAMES SUPPRESSED A young woman, whose name was ordered not to be published in the meantime, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing remnants of ribbon in a Christchurch department store. The Magistrate adjourned the case to July 19 for a report from the Probation Officer. She was represented by Mr W. G. P. Cuningham. Interim suppression of name wa? granted a young woman who pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a purs? and its Contents. The case was adjourned to July 19 for a report from the Probation Officer. Mr R. Twyneham appeared for accused. Four youths charged with stealing clothing were remanded to July 19. Their names were suppressed. A youth whose name was ordered not to be published in the meantime was remanded for sentence to July 19, a report from the Probation Officer to be obtained, on two charges of stealing small sums of money. REMANDED Trevor James Everest, aged 19, a driver, was remanded to July 19, on a charge that on June 27 he broke and entered the Papanui Technical High School with intent to commit a crime. He was allowed bail of £5O with one surety of £lOO. On a charge that on July 7 he converted to his own use a motorcycle valued at £290, the property of Ladislor Purs, Douglas Baxter Fabian, aged 18, an apprentice carpenter, was remanded in the custody of the Army Department to July 19. Charged that on July 10, while under the influence of liquor he drove a motor scooter in Cathedral square, Francis Alan Sparkes, aged 23, a plasterer (Mr J. G. Leggat), was remanded to July 19. Bail was renewed. IMPRISONMENT FOR THEFT “You have three convictions for conversions of motor-vehicles before this and I can only accept the evidence that in this case you were about to drive away when detected,” said the Magistrate, .when Edward Arnold Fearn, aged 32, a linesman, appeared for sentence on a charge that on July 3 he unlawfully entered a car valued at £l2OO, the property of W. A. McLaren and Company, Ltd. He was convicted and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour. , THEFT OF MONEY Milton John Hall, aged 18, a labourer, pleaded guilty to charges that on July 6 and 7, he stole £5 arid £5 10s in money, the property of John McMahon. He was remanded to July 19 for sentence, the Magistrate asking for a report from the Probation Officer. Detective-Sergeant G. W. Alty said that on July 6, Mr McMahon noticed that £5 had been taken from a pocket of. a pair of trousers hanging in his locker in the staff room of the hotel where he worked, and on July 7 he found that another £5 10s had been taken. The accused, a kitchen hand at the hotel, was interviewed and admitted taking the money. He said he had spent the money on dances, theatres and taxis. Hall was granted bail in his own recognisance of £lO with one surety of £lO, conditional upon his reporting daily to the police. THEFT OF CAMERA

Pleading guilty to a charge that on or about June 9 he stole a camera valued at £7O. the property of Jean Emily Adams, Kenneth Sinclair Thomas, aged 19, a pastrycook (Mr K. A. Gough) was remanded to July 19 for sentence. Detective-Sergeant G. W. Alty said the loss of the camera from a car was reported to the police on June 15. The Christchurch agents for the camera later informed the police that a man had tried to purchase a case for the camera. The man was interviewed and said he had bought the camera from a man in Dunedin. This man, the accused, when questioned, said he had gone up a drive of a house in New Brighton, saw the camera in a car and taken it. He had later exchanged it with a Dutchman for a camera taking a smaller film. THEFT. OF SPORTS COAT Patrick Verdun Ford (Mr B. J. Drake) was ftned £5 on a charge that on June 26 he stole a sports coat valued at £5, the property of Sylvester John Adamson. He had previously pleaded guilty to the charge. Mr Drake said the offencs was entirely due to drink. He had checked this with the licensee of the hotel at which Ford was drinking on the day of the offence. He had two previous convictions in 1937 and 1944, but he had not offended since then. “You can take this as a final warn-’

ing that you cannot steal, even if you are drunk.” said the Magistrate. PROBATION FOR THEFT “What I am going to do is against my better judgment and not what the Probation Officer recommends. I am going to give full effect to what has been said in your favour. I had practically made up my mind to send you to gaol,” said Jthe Magistrate, when Edward Roy Reader, aged 52, a barman (Mr J. G. Leggat) appeared for sentence. Reader had previously pleaded guilty to four charges of aiding Laurence Sinclair in the theft of radios. He was convicted on each charge and admitted to probation for two years. He is to make restitution of £32 19s 6d, the cost of one of the radios.

Mr Leggat said Reader was a first offender with a hitherto blameless record. He was concerned in the offences, but not as the principal party. He was incredibly naive and in money matters was gullible.