Men For Trial On Charge Of Breaking And Entering

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29108, 21 January 1960, Page 19

Men For Trial On Charge Of Breaking And Entering

A police chase of an old car which was later identified as one which had been driven at high speed from the United States Navy’s supply depot at Harewood when the store was broken into, and whisky and cigarettes valued at £l2l removed on the evening of November 16, was described by Detective P. j. O’Donovan in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was giving evidence in a joint charge brought against Maxwell Carlton Carney, aged 35, a seaman, and Harold Maurice James Smither, aged 41, of breaking and entering the store and committing theft. Carney was also charged with escaping from custody at Lyttelton a few hours after his apprehension on the joint breaking charge, and theft of a car radio valued at £27 6s at Lyttelton on November 16.

He elected trial by jury on these charges, and both men also elected trial by jury on the joint charge of warehouse breaking. After hearing 17 witnesses, Messrs A. Henderson and N. J. Speary, Justices of the Peace, committed the two accused to the next sitting of the Supreme Court for trial. Smither was remanded to February 18 on five other charges. They were the theft of goods valued at £l2 and £3, receiving stolen property valued at £l2, and two charges of being found unlawfully on enclosed premises, all allegedly committed between October 3 and 28.

Before the lower Court hearing began yesterday Mr B. J. Drake, counsel for Carney, and Mr R. J. de Goldi, Smither’s counsel, were granted leave to withdraw from the case. Both counsel said they had been given no instructions from the accused. They had represented the accused on several remands after their arrest.

After the hearing Carney and Smither applied for bail, but were refused. The application was opposed by Sergeant E. S. Tuck, who prosecuted. He said that the offences were serious and were likely to recur, and several similar applications had been declined by magistrates at the past hearings.

Carney said he had three children and had been in custody for two months. He wished to make some provision for his family.

Smither, making his application, said the reason counsel had withdrawn was because the accused had no money to give them at the time. He would not be able to work and get money to arrange for his defence if he was kept in custody. Saw Car Evidence of hearing a rattling of metal outside while he was working in the adjacent post office section of the warehouse was given by William Letcher Simmons, a naval yeoman, Ist class. He said he was in charge of the post office and while working there on the evening of November 16 he heard the noise and went outside to investigate. He saw an old car parked outside the liquor and cigarette store with its motor running. A man went from the store to the car with parcels under his arm and he saw the “image”" of boxes inside the vehicle.

“A voice called out: ‘Let’s get out of here,’ and the car moved off faster than one would normally drive off, and bumped over the kerb as it went round a corner,” said the witness. He said he reported the incident to the duty officer and later found several cases outside the door, which was open, and a jemmy 15ft from the store where the car had been parked. He later identi-

fled the car as the one he had seen outside the store. Lieutenant B. Kinloch said he was in charge of the liquor and cigarette store and locked it at 5.30 p.m. All stock was in order. At 8.55 p.m. he was told the store had been broken into and found a quantity of liquor and cigarettes valued at £37 outside the door, which had been prised open. He immediately checked the contents of the store and found a further large quantity of liquor and cigarettes worth £B7 missing.

The witness said he accompanied detectives to a place a few hundred yards up the Mt. Pleasant road where a vehicle was “hanging over the edge of the bank.”

“I looked inside and found the goods which had been taken from the store,” he said. One of the whisky cases had been broken open, and the , empty bottle was found in the car. Roger Bethwaite, a fingerprint expert" of the C. 1.8., Wellington, said he had no doubt that prints from the empty bottle were the same as the set forwarded from the accused Smither. Arrests Made

Detective O'Donovan said he set up a road block with Detective A. C. Lyhskey at Humphreys drive and at 9.20 p.m. they saw Carney’s car pass through and turn up the St. Andrews Hill road. They gave chase and passed the car and pulled up in front of it. While Detective Lynskey ran back to the car the witness radioed the Central Police Station and while doing this saw the car turn in the road in an attempt to escape down the hill. The driver was unable to get sufficient lock and the rear wheels ran over a bank. “Carney got out of the driver’s door and asked for assistance in getting the car out but I refused.” said the witness. Three men had been sitting in the front seat. When he looked at the goods in the car Carney shouted to get away from the vehicle, said the witness. He raised his hand to strike the witness, but witness struck Carney on the side of the neck. A struggle ensued, but Carney was eventually brought back to the roadway. After a description of the missing goods had been radioed to the patrol car the three men, Carney, Coats, and McDonald, were placed under arrest. Smither was charged with the offence and arrested when brought into the police station by another police party. Smither said he had been drinking during the afternoon and had not seen the other three men. He denied any knowledge of the breaking and entering, the witness said.

Visit To Lyttelton Detective Constable D. C. Lee said he and Detective Marshall and a constable took Carney to Lyttelton to search his home, arriving shortly before midnight. When they arrived Carney went to a bedroom window and spoke to his wife. He told her not to let them in as he had been arrested. After about two minutes they were let in, said the witness. The accused had a cup of tea with his wife and asked her to arrange bail and engage a solicitor for him. “As we were about to leave the house Carney ran forward across the room and out the front door, slamming it behind him,” said the witness. He said he ran outside and heard Carney escaping through scrub at the back door. No trace could be found when the other police were summoned. Detective-Sergeant T. Thomson gave evidence of conducting a search for Carney, who was found a week later under a bed in a house owned by Mrs Kathleen McDonald, in Lyttelton.