10 “MAGPIE” THEFTS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30534, 1 September 1964, Page 8

10 “MAGPIE” THEFTS

Counsel’s Plea Fails (N.Z. Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, August 31. A 30-y ear-old Woodville jockey, Vernon Ronald Coley, married, whose livelihood was said by his counsel to be in jeopardy as a result of the petty offences, was convicted and fined £2 on each of 10 charges of theft, by Mr D. G. Sinclair, S.M., today. The charges were originally heard in the Pahiatua Magistrate’s Court. They comprised six of theft of newspapers, three of theft of milk bottles from outside Woodville shops in early mornings, and one charge of theft of flowers from a garden near a roadside.

For Coley, Mr T. A. de Cleene told the Magistrate that the accused had worked hard to establish himself in society, and the total of his “magpie” thefts amounted to less than £l. Accused had apologised to the newspaper vendor and dairy proprietors and had given them sums of money in excess of the value of the thefts. Counsel said that he did not ask the Court to consider what consequences might flow from any other authority as a result of the offences, hut he suggested a fine and a suspended sentence. The Magistrate said that accused's occupation did not matter, it was the offences which mattered. They were irritation and a nuisance, and had been carried out in a series, the last one after the accused had known the police were investigating.