Magistrate’s Court Placed On Probation For Sending Menacing Letter

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29264, 23 July 1960, Page 17

Magistrate’s Court Placed On Probation For Sending Menacing Letter

Vincent Francis Bald, aged 57, a male nurse, who was found guilty of sending a letter containing a threat to do grievous bodily harm to a young woman on February 25, was told by Mr J. W. Kealy, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, yesterday, that his offence was “utterly repellent, disgusting, and cowardly.” Bald was pppearing for sentence. The accused was placed on probation for two years,' conditions being that he live and work as directed, undergo medical treatment, and keep away from the woman concerned.

He was also advised by the Magistrate to destroy all photographs, letters, and other materials which might remind him of the woman so that he could “put the incident out of his mind and stop brooding about it.” The Magistrate told Bald that he should not be left in any doubt as to the seriousness of the offence. “Our Parliament regards it as a very serious one and very grave consideration should be given to the punishment. If there should be any repetition it will have to be treated with the gravest seriousness.” The Magistrae said there was justification in extending leniency on this occasion because of the accused’s medical state and be-) cause the offence was rare in New Zealand at the present time and therefore a severe penalty was not needed as a deterrent to others.

Mr B. McClelland, who appeared for the accused, said he realised his conduct could only lead to serious trouble, and was Unlikely to offend again. MOTOR-CYCLIST FINED

The knock on the head which a motor-cyclist suffered when he struck a turning car while attempting to overtake it on the inside on May 1 was more likely to teach him careful driving than any penalty the Court could impose, said the Magistrate when he fined Robert Hugh Jaggar, aged 18, a farmhand (Mr G. R. Lascelles) £3 10s on a charge of driving without due care and attention. The defendant was thrown several yards when his machine struck a car being driven by Warwick James Davis which was turning from Dyers Pass road into the Summit road. CHARGE DISMISSED A charge against Kenneth Alexander Barrie, aged 49, of driving without due care on May 5, was dismissed. Barrie, who pleaded not guilty, was represented by Mr G. R. Lascelles. (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.). BANKRUPT FINED Saying that it was very difficult to decide whether Russell Herbert Mantell's muddling was

attributable to ignorance or astuteness, the Magistrate fined him £2O for failing to keep proper books of account, and £lO for concealing books and documents relating to his affairs. Mantell, aged 33, a cabinetmaker (Mr B. J. Drake) was appearing for sentence on the two charges. (Before Mr A. P. Blair, S.M.) DANGEROUS DRIVING Driving away from the Post Office in Cathedral square, Neville James Barton, aged 21, a farm worker, accelerated out of all proportion to the distance covered, said Sergeant B. D. Read. At the pedestrian crossing at the northwest comer, joining the Godly plot, Barton overtook a car and swerved in front of it, forcing the car to brake and swing to its left. Barton made a circuit the Square, returning to the Regent Theatre. He was questioned by a constable, and adopted a truculent attitude, said Sergeant Read. Barton was convicted and fined £l2, and his driver’s licence was cancelled for one year, on a charge of dangerous driving on June 11. He did not appear. COLLIDED WITH VAN After Murray Richard Bent, aged 18, a builder’s labourer, had restarted his stalled motor-cycle, the throttle jammed, causing the motor-cycle, with Bent, to accelerate down a drive and on to Barrington street, colliding with a van, it was stated in Court. Bent had been convicted on a charge of dangerous driving on October 16, and had had his driver’s licence cancelled for one year. He was convicted and fined £1 on a charge of driving while disqualified on June 3, and £5 for driving without due care. He pleaded guilty. TWO CONVICTIONS FROM ONE. ACCIDENT

An accident at the intersection of Gloucester and Montreal streets on April 28 had a sequel when Edward Ernest Mayes, aged 67 (Mr G. H. Gould), an engineer, was charged with driving without due care and Gerald Trevor Cooke, aged 63, a storeman, was charged with failing to' give way. Both pleaded not guilty. Bernard Thomas Schimanski, a company director, said he was travelling north along Montreal street, and at the Gloucester street intersection he noticed a power cyclist, Mayes, on his left. The cyclist did not stop for him, and he had to pull up in a hurry. The cyclist swerved to the left, and hit a car going south along Montreal street.

Mr Gould submitted that Mayes had time to cross the intersection, and had collided with Cooke, who had failed to 'give way. Cooke said that he expected Mayes to give way to Schimanski. Both were convicted and fined £1 on their respective charges. OTHER TRAFFIC CASES In other traffic cases brought by the police, offenders were dealt with as follows:-j-Failing to give way: Wendy Faye Lord, £4; Faye-Noel Isobel Edwards, £5 (failing to ascertain if anyone injured, £8); John Shaw, £3. Driving without due care: John Ronald Thomas Johnson, £6; Graeme Fraser Aitken, £l2: Kay Frahcis Prenderville, £4; Henry Alfred Beazley, £8 (no warrant of fitness, 10s): William Allan Smith, £8; Donald Ritchie Woods, £5. No warrant of fitness: Faithful Charles Meikle, £1 10s; Terence Donald Walter Ray. £2. REMANDED Bernard Thomas Byers, aged 34 (Mr H: W. Hunter), was remanded on bail to July 28, on a charge of theft of £lO, on May 19, the property of Stanley Green.