Magistrate’s Court NINE MONTHS’ GAOL FOR CAR CONVERSION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28820, 14 February 1959, Page 4

Magistrate’s Court NINE MONTHS’ GAOL FOR CAR CONVERSION

Warning the defendant that he had a bad list of previous convictions, and that he was eligible for corrective training and preventive detention, Mr A. P. Blair, S.M., imposed a prison term of nine months on Stanley Robert Ritchie, aged 26, who was appearing for sentence in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of car conversion committed in Christchurch on January 13.

“The prisoner had the right to the use of the car for 30 ' minutes but kept it for four days; 1 although I agree with his counsel that this was not a bad case of ’ its type, and that he was on his 1 way back to return the car to its ' owner when stopped In Ashbur- 1 ton, it was a case of having reported back too late, and an offence had been committed,’’ said 1 the Magistrate. The defendant ’ must learn to keep his hands off other persons’ property. Mr H. S. Thomas, for the de- . fendant, said the case was an : unusual one in that he had bor- J rowed the car on a previous occasion with the full consent of the owner, and on the occasion when the offence was committed he had taken the car to do some repairs to it He drove to a hotel, however, and after consuming some drink he met two girls and took them in the car to Tlmaru. “The car would have been returned on time but for a breakdown in Timaru,” he said. PROBATION ON ENTERING CHARGE “You are hovering on the edge of crime and had better make up your mind to lead a better life and realise that crime does not pay,” said the Magistrate when he sentenced Alan Joseph Baldwin, aged 18 (Mr S. H. Wood). Baldwin was appearing for sentence jointly with Eric John Prewer, aged 28 (Mr I. A. Pringle), on a charge of breaking and entering the office of the Jarrah Timber Company. Ltd., on February 1 with intent to commit theft Each of the defendants was fined £5 and admitted to probation for two years. Restitution of £1 each was ordered. JUMPED FROM MOVING TRAIN Robert Alfred Radcliffe, Wyndham James Watkins, and Robert Marler, all seamen, were each fined £3 on charges of jumping from the Lyttelton-Christchurch train on February 9 while it was in motion. They pleaded guilty. Sergeant T. A. A. Marson said the defendants had told the Lyttelton police after they had been apprehended that they decided on the train that they did not want to go into Christchurch after all, and had jumped off. The defendants all submitted that they were ignorant of the railway regulations in New Zealand as they were seamen from a visiting ship. “You were a danger to yourselves and a nuisance to the railway authorities,” said the Magistrate. He ordered immediate payment of the fines as the ship . would/ shortly leave Lyttelton. I DROVE WHILE DISQUALIFIED Walter Arthur Burgess, who was sentenced to imprisonment for 14 days last year for driving under the influence of liquor, and who had his licence cancelled for five years, was found guilty on a charge of driving while disqualified at Bennetts on November 29. The case was adjourned for one week for a probation officer’s report and sentence. Mr H. E. Blank appeared for the defendant. Constable W. J. Theyers said he saw two cars on the side of the road near Bennetts, on the Oxford-Rangiora highway, and one of them was being pushed by the defendant He stopped to help the men start it and when the car started and moved off he saw there was no number plate on the defendant’s car. When asked where the number plate was, the defendant became abusive and said that it had fallen off and he had put it in his car. said the witness. Eventually he gave his name and address to the constable and admitted that he was a disqualified driver. LICENCE SUSPENDED Boyd Neville Busan was fined £2O and had bis driving licence suspended for three months when he was convicted on a charge of driving without due care and attention in Sawyers Arms road on December 4. Constable A. G. Dailey said ' that at about midnight on December 4 the defendant was driving his motor-truck in Sawyers Arms road and about 50 yards from the intersection of Leander street It struck the rear of a car parked on the side of the road. The impact was so severe that the vehicle was pushed forward into two other cars parked correctly ahead of the first car. The defendant’s truck was I found unattended at the of

the collision, and the defendant could not be found.

“After visiting defendant’s home several times to make inquiries I finally found him home in bed at 2.30 a.m.,” said Constable Dailey. “He apparently thought I was a friend of his and started to tell me about the accident and the injuries he had received, but, after the light , was switched on and he saw who I was he became very abusive.” OTHER TRAFFIC CHARGES

On other traffic charges brought by the police, offenders were fined as follows:

Driving without due care and attention: Alan Buckle, £3; Daniel Eric James O’Leary, £2 (no driving licence, £1 10s); Haras Graeme Stockdill, £4. Failing to give way: Anthony Robert Anderson, £2 (no warrant of fitness, 10s); Terence Desmond Bradshaw, £5; Neville Lex Moulin, £5; Leslie Gordon Ogg, £4.

No warrant of fitness: Alfred Edward Billing. £1 10s; Adele Marie Lunt, £l.