Magistrate’s Court Disorderly Behaviour On River Bank

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29713, 5 January 1962, Page 3

Magistrate’s Court Disorderly Behaviour On River Bank

Drunken behaviour by a young girl and two young men on the banks of the Avon river, during which the girl fell into the water, led to the arrest of all three and to the appearance of the two men in 'the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. I The two accused, Barry I Ronald McAllister, aged 19, a i driver, and Anthony Robert I Joyce, aged 21, a storeman. leach pleaded guilty before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., to charges of ( behaving in a disorderly 'manner while drunk on January 3. They were remanded on bail to January 12 for seni tence.

Sergeant B. D. Read said | that at 7.35 p.m. a constable | saw a crowd gathering on the Worcester street bridge, and ■found they were watching Joyce staging a drunken dance with an open beer bottle on the banks of the Avon. McAllister and the girl, who would be dealt with in the Children’s Court, were sitting on r. seat.

When the constable apI proached he saw the girl was lying half in the water while McAllister and Joyce were trying to pull her out. All three were shouting and yelling.

The girl managed to get out of the water and then when she saw the constable, threw her shoes in the river. When questioned all three admitted they had been drinking dur-

tng the day and the girl said she had consumed a bottle of sherry and a bottle of cider since 4 p.m. The girl then began to yell and McAllister and Joyce yelled louder to try to quieten her. The girl said she could walk a straight line, and walked into a tree, said Sergeant Read. THEFT OF CLOTHING Carol Tina Kelly, aged 19. was remanded in custody to January 12 for sentence on a charge of theft of clothing valued at £2 10s from a house occupied by Florence Hazel McLean, 63 Winters road, on January 2. She pleaded guilty. Sergeant Read said the accused and the complainant had been friends and after the theft was reported to police the missing articles were found in the accused’s possession. CHARGE DISMISSED A charge of using obscene language in Hereford street on January 4 against a 27-year-old man. whose name was suppressed, was dismissed. The man pleaded not guilty to the charge. Detect ive-Const able E. J. Stackhouse said the accused had been stopped by a police constable in Manchester street. The constable was making inquiries about a dangerous mental patient missing from Southland since December 31. The accused closely resembled the description of the missing person, but refused to give his name and address to the constable. The accused was taken to the police station in Hereford street and questioned by Detective-Constable Stackhouse but still refused to cooperate. They were standing on the steps of the police station when the accused used the obscene words. “The defendant had himself entirely to blame for the situation he found himself in. said the Magistrate. “Had he co-operated with the police there would have been no cause to use the words and there would have been no charge made.” The Magistrate said it was quite clear the defendant was not in Hereford street but on police property when he used the words, so he was justified in dismissing the charge. REMANDED On a charge of being idle and disorderly on January 4 Fanny Noble, aged 17, was remanded in custody to January 11. Sergeant Read said the accused was a ward of the State and had absconded from a home regularly. ABSENT FROM SHIP Charged with being absent without leave from the Devon ait Lyttelton on December 27. Kenneth Campbell, a ship’s bos’un, was fined £lO and ordered to be deported under provisions of the Shipping and Seamen’s Act. Campbell pleaded not guilty. For the New Zealand Shipping Company, Mr J. R. Woodward said arrangements had been made to deport Campbell. (Before Mr P A. Le Brun J.P.) RECEIVING CHARGE The licensee of the Saxon Hotel. Lyttelton, Leslie Arthur Hanke, was charged with receiving stolen property valued at £5O, knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained. He was remanded on bail to January 19, on the application of Sergeant Read.