Magistrate’s Court IMPRISONED FOR TWO YEARS ON 22 CHARGES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30154, 11 June 1963, Page 10

Magistrate’s Court IMPRISONED FOR TWO YEARS ON 22 CHARGES

“I have no alternative but to send you to prison. Your criminal record in Australia goes back for 25 yeans,” said Mr A. P. Blais', SM., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday when sentencing Mervyn James Sherridan, aged 43, to two years’ imprisonment on 22 charges.

Sherridan was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on 19 changes of false pretences and to one year’s imprisonment on three charges jof obtaining credit by fraud. The terms are concurrent. The Magistrate said there would be a recommendation that the accused be deported Mr M. J. Glue, who originally appeared for Sherridan, said lie was in dispute with his client, and was given permission to withdraw. Sherridan said he had intended to give himself up and had telephoned Detec-tive-Sergeant E. T. Mitten twice but could not get in touch with him before he was arrested. He was booked in for surgical treatment gt the Burwood Hospital. The Magistrate said arrangements could be made by the prison authorities. PROBATION

Charles Robert Sleeman, aged 28, was admitted to two years’ probation and was ordered to make restitution of £63 15s 4d and to pay £2O towards the cost of prosecution when he appeared for sentence on two charges of false pretences . involving £l6 12s 8d and £47 4s 2d. one of theft, involving £37 IDs, and one of credit by fraud involving £29 15s. There was a background of financial and emotional upsets to the offences, said Mr W. A. Wilson, who appeared for Sleeman. He had lost his job through malicious gossip, and had been unable to get another one. Sleeman had decided to try to make a fresh start in Australia. He bundled up all his possessions and yook them to an auction room. Among the articles was a typewriter on which only the deposit had been paid. While in Australia he asked a travel agency to make a hotel booking for him fo Christchurch. When Sleeman arrived in Christchurch he found he was staying at one of the top hotels, and it cost him £3O for one week. (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.j DRIVER SENTENCED

“Unless there are very special circumstances, which do not exist here, the consequences of intoxicated driving are too serious to ignore,” eaid the Magistrate when sentencing Norman Sidney Charles Ray field, aged 38, a blacksmith, to seven days’ imprisonment for driving in Straven road while under the influence of drink or drugs on May 25. Rayfield (Mr P. J. Mulligan), pleaded guilty. His driver’s licence was cancelled for three years. Detective-Sergeant J. W. Wooders said that when Rayfield was stopped in Straven road at 6.15 pan. his breath smelt strongly’ of liquor and he was unsteady on his feet. He was taken to the police station and certified by a doctor as unfit to drive.

Mr Mulligan said the doctor’s report was not a bad one. Rayfield was upset by a domestic matter at the time of the offence.

SEVEN DAYS’ GAOL

A car that swerved to the wrong side of the Main South road on May 12 knocked a rear-vision mirror off a traffic patrol car, Detective-Sergeant Wooders said. The driver, Reginald William Parsons, aged 43, a bridge project manager, at Auckland (Mr B. McClelland), pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while under the influence of drink or drugs. He was sentenced to seven days’ imprisonment, his driving licence was cancelled, and he was prohibited from obtaining another for three years. CHARGE DENIED Sentence of seven days’ imprisonment, with prohibition from driving for three years, was imposed on Norman Tennant, aged 29, who was convicted after pleading not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of drink or drugs. Tennant (Mr L. H. Moore) denied driving the car, which was involved in an accident at the corner of Gloucester and Manchester streets on May 11. He said he did not deny after his arrest that he had been the driver. He assumed, he said, that the traffic officers and police would realise that he had not been the driver. This evidence was supported by John Edward Ryan, who said that he was driving. Traffic Officer T. Laurier and Traffic Officer E. J. McJarrow said that neither Ryan nor Tennant disputed Tennant’s arrest after the accident. Tennant’s alleged intoxication was not disputed strongly, Mr Moore said. The Magistrate said the conduct of Tennant and Ryan after the accident was consistent with Tennant’s being the driver. “And they didn’t improve it by coming along here and telling lies,” he said. Tennant appealed against the decision later, and was released on bail. STOLE GLASSES After a barmen at the Woodend Hotel complained that five glasses were missing, David Robert Coleman was arrested, and he admitted the theft, Detective-Sergeant Wooders said. Coleman, aged 21, pleaded guilty to theft of glasses valued at 6s 5d on June 8. He was fined £5. INDECENT ASSAULT Geoffrey Robert May, aged 30, a railway employee, was fined £l5 for indecently assaulting a male on June 2. He was appearing for sentence. Mr B. J. Drake, who appeared for the accused, said he had never been in trouble before. The offence was attributable to drink and the circumstances in which May found himself. FIRED RIFLE

A man who lost control of himself during a domestic dispute and fired a rifle through a window was charged with possessing a firearm without lawful purpose on June 8. Sherwyn John Tasman Baker, aged 35, a butcher (Mr C. R. Harman), pleaded guilty to the charge, and was remanded in custody to June 14 for sentence.

Detective-Sergeant Wooders said that Baker was involved in a dispute with his wife and family. He fired a .22

calibre rifle through a window into the ground. The police found him hiding in a wardrobe when they arrived had no explanation other than that he lost control of himself. DROVE UNDER INFLUENCE Frank Silas Bates, aged 76, a retired storeman. was fined £2O, and has driver’s licence was cancelled fbr three years, when he was convicted on a change of driving under the influence of drink or drugs on May 20. He pleaded not guilty, and was represented by Mr P. J. Mulligan. FOUND DRUNK Ngana Thompson, aged 48, charged with being found drunk in Moorhouse avenue on June 8, was convicted and fined £2, in default three days’ imprisonment. Thompson, a statutory second offender, did not appear. REMANDED Lewis William Richardson, aged 24. was remanded on bail to June 17 on charges of using obscene language and unlawfully interfering with a car on June 8. John Duncan Garrett, aged 46. charged with driving while under the influence of drink or drugs on June 3, was remanded on bail to June 17. John Howard, aged 46. was remanded on bail to June 17 on a charge of driving in Paponui road while under the influence of drink or drugs on June 1. Charged with driving while under the influence of drink or drugs on June 2, Terry Joseph Lyons, aged 34, was remanded on bail to June 24. Charged with assaulting a female on May 11, William Leslie Campbell, aged 31, wias remanded to June 24. George John Bryenton, aged 21, was remanded on bail to June 17, on four charges. He pleaded guilty to using obscene language on a bus, and not guilty to charges of wilful damage, obscene language, and assault. Charged with driving under the influence of drink or drugs on June 9. Norman Lloyd Murray, aged 18, was remanded on bail to June 17. DISMISSED

When Maurice Clifford Chappell’s wife exercised her right to refuse to give evidence, a charge of assault was dismissed. Chappell, aged 42 (Mr M. J. Glue), pleaded not guilty.