MAGISTRATE’S COURT Two Fined After Unauthorised Sale Of Pistol

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30630, 22 December 1964, Page 11

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Two Fined After Unauthorised Sale Of Pistol

After 11 policemen and two police dogs had surrounded B flat in Office road, some of the policemen burst into the

and ordered the defend-

ant to put his hands up, said yir G. R. Lascelles in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. He was appearing for Ronald Doyle, aged 39, a furnaceman. who pleaded guilty to a charge of selling a .32 derringer to Clifford Edward Hamlin, an unauthorised per-

son, and a charge of being in possession of a pistol without lawful purpose. Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., fined Doyle £7 10s on each

Norman Barry Johnstone, a zed 19, a workman, was •ined £7 10s on a charge of celling a pistol to an unauthorised person. He pleaded

e Sergeant V. F. Townshend Mid that as a result of information received the police event to a flat in Office road at 10.10 p.m. on December IS. The defendants admitted selling a pistol to a youth for £l6 that evening. Doyle said that he bought the pistol in Hong Kong some years ago, and Johnstone had told him he had a buyer for it. Doyle received £ll, and Johnstone

The pistol was lethal, and ammunition was available for it at sports shops.

Both defendants had extensive lists of convictions, Sergeant Townshend said. Mr M. J. Glue, who appeared for Johnstone, said that his convictions were

mostly for traffic offences. Johnstone, he said, was an unwitting offender. He was asked to get a pistol, and did so as a favour. He had understood that the pistol was a collector's piece.

A disturbing factor, Mr Glue said, was that the offence was committed at the request of a person who was apparently acting as a stoolpigeon for the police. Numbered notes were handed over with the knowledge of the police, and it almost amounted to inducing a person to commit a crime.

The Magistrate said he was very satisfied with the way the police acted. The use of marked notes was not reprehensible. Johnstone had a list which indicated that he was not careful about his obligations to the law. He accepted that there was nothing sinister in the offence. Mr Lascelles said that Doyle did not have a good record. but in recent years he had made a determined effort to stay out of trouble. He had had the gun for 12 years, and It had never been fired.

The Magistrate said that Doyle had much to his credit in settling down after his horrifying list in Australia. He did not wonder that the police arrived in force when they knew Doyle’s Australian convictions.

DROVE UNDER INFLUENCE

A fine of £4O, with cancellation of his driver’s licence for five years, was imposed on Noel Grant, aged 36, a cleaner (Mr J. F. Burn) when he pleaded guilty to driving in Ferry road under the influence of drink or drugs on December 19. Sergeant Townshend said that Grant was convicted of a similar offence in 1953.

Charged with driving in Centaurus road under the influence of drink or drugs on December 19, Terence Ralph William King, aged 46, a watch specialist (Mr R. G. Blunt), was fined £4O, and his driver’s licence cancelled for three years. He pleaded guilty.

Trevor John Neilson, aged 26, a magazine publisher, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving in Buckleys road under the influence of drink or drugs on December 18. He was fined £5O, and his driver’s licence was cancelled for three years. Jeffrey Pehimana Pakau, aged 19, a workman, was fined £4O, and his driver’s licence was cancelled for three years when he pleaded guilty to driving in High street under the influence of drink or drugs on December 18. WOMEN ASSAULTED

Stewart Stanley Adamson, aged 34, a workman, who pleaded guilty to assaulting Phyllis Dorothy Killkelly on December 20, was remanded on bail to tomorrow for sentence. He was ordered to keep away from his home. Adamson and his de facto wife were in bed when, without warning, he pulled her out of bed, jumped on her head and then struck her in the eye, said Sergeant Townshend. Adamson was intoxicated.

Pleading guilty to assaulting his wife on December 20, Raymond Christie Earl Coster, aged 29. a freezing worker, was convicted and remanded on bail to tomorrow for sentence.

Coster was drinking at his home •with friends and his wife went out with her friends, said Sergeant Townshend. When his wife returned Coster met her at the door with a knife in his hand. He pushed her around the room several times and knocked her on the head. Coster claimed that his wife hit him first BURGLARY Kevin Charles Stillwell, aged 19, a workman, was remanded on bail to tomorrow for sentence on a charge of breaking and entering the Beachball, Sumner, on December 8. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant L. A. Dowell said the premises were entered after a lock on the front door had bees .abashed. Property valued at '£l3l was stolen, end £27 3s 8d worth had

been recovered. Restitution of £3l 5s 5d was sought from Stillwell.

FALSE PRETENCES Brian Frederick Dixon, aged 22, was remanded on bail to tomorrow for sentence on a charge of false pretences m obtaining £2OO from Hamilton Motors, Ltd., at Timaru on November 27 by representing that a car was his own unemeumbered property. He pleaded guilty. STOLE GUITAR Graeme John Wright, aged 18, a workman, was placed on probation for two years when he pleaded guilty to stealing an electric guitar worth £27 10s on December 4.

Sergeant Dowell said that Wright visited the complainant, with whom he used to live, but found he was not at home. Wright climbed through a window and waited, and then left the same way, taking the guitar with him. BURGLARY Barry William Wright, aged 17 (Mr G. R. Lascelles), pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the premises of Blackburn Motors, 121 Peterborough street, on December 12. He was convicted and remanded on bail to tomorrow for sentence.

A pane of glass was broken to gain entry, and Wright admitted to being one of those responsible, said Sergeant Dowell. A purse with keys in it was taken. FALSE PRETENCES

Mary Catherine Geehan, aged 20, was convicted on two charges of false pretences and remanded on bail to today. She pleaded guilty. Sergeant Dowell said that Geehan used the name of a Mrs Murray to buy a suit and blouse. She produced a credit card in Mrs Murray’s name. Inquiries revealed that Geehan received the card through the post and she decided to use it. On August 13 she bought a handbag with a valueless cheque. The cheque was one of two stolen from a Mrs Denton, an invalid for whom Geehan had been working. Mrs Denton did not want to press charges relating to the stolen cheques. STOLE MONEY, RADIOS

A youth who stole money and radios from the Y.M.C.A. hostel while staying there earlier this month pleaded guilty to four charges of theft and was convicted and remanded on bail to today for sentence. He is Gary Charles Farr, aged IS. unemployed. Sergeant Dowell said that Farr took £4 belonging to the person with whom he was sharing a room, and £5 from another room. He also took two transistor radios. RECEIVING

Charged with receiving 1600 cigarettes valued at £lB 3s 5d from Kenny Karen a Kaipo on December 15, knowing them to be dishonestly obtained, Peter Robert Wright, aged 23, unemployed. pleaded guilty. He was convicted and fined £lO.

Sergeant Townshend said that when the cigarettes were found in the accused’s possession on December 18. he admitted knowing that they were ‘’hot.” He said he intended to throw them into a river. The Magistrate said that Wright, with his record, could not afford to offend. ASSAULT Stanley Bowring Evans, aged 36, a workman, was fined £l5 when he appeared for sentence on a charge of assault on December 12. The Magistrate said he would take it into account that a knife was used in the assault, but that it was not used by the accused at the outset. SHIP DESERTION Peter Leon Hayward, aged 20, a seaman, w'as convicted and

fined £lO when he appeared on a warrant of arrest on a charge of desertion from the Iberic at Auckland on August 24. Hayward, who pleaded guilty, was allowed ball while subject to the provisions of section 158 of the Shipping and Seaman Act. STOLE BICYCLE A youth, whose name was suppressed, was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within 12 months on a charge of theft of a cycle valued at £5 on April 11. He was ordered to pay restituion of £5, and an order was made for the return of the property. OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR Brian Godfrey Murray Herdman, aged 19, an apprentice, and Murray Raymond Bone, aged 18, a labourer, were each fined £7 10s for offensive behaviour in Colombo street on December 18, They pleaded guilty. Sergeant Dowell said that the youths urinated in the gutter by their car near Kilmore street about 10.30 p.m. OBSCENE LANGUAGE Andrew Albert Dryden, aged 22, a painter, was fined £lO when he pleaded guilty to using obscene language in the South Brighton Domain on December 19. Sergeant Townshend said that Dryden, after being questioned about liquor in a car near a dance hall, followed the constable and used the language. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR Trevor George McClintock, aged 23, a truck driver, was fined £l5 on a charge of disorderly behaviour in St. Asaph street on December 19. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Dowell said that McClintock was one of a group of youths who were shouting at three women in their own property. McClintock said he had been to a party, and had had a few too many. FINED £3 Albert Horace Calvert, a barman, was fined £3 on a charge of supplying liquor after hours. Mr W. A. Wilson, who appeared for the defendant and entered a plea of guilty, said that when the police visited the Excelsior Hotel at 11.5 p.m. on November 2 only one of 25 persons in the bar was not entitled to be there legally. This person was the guest of a lodger, but he had paid for some drinks. CHARGES DISMISSED A charge against Martin Leo Coffey, a hotel manager, of supplying liquor to minors at the Caledonian Hotel on November 7, and a charge against Alan Marshall Ward, a barman, of serving liquor to minors at the hotel on November 7, were dismissed. The hearing was adjourned on December 14 to allow the prosecution to produce evidence of the ages of the youths who had given evidence. Mr W. F. Brown appeared for both defendants. The Magistrate said that none of the youths was able to say who supplied the liquor. REMANDED Gerald Vincent Hood, aged 30, a fitter, was remanded on bail to January 13 on a charge of stealing a watch. Kenny Karena Kaipo, aged 30, was remanded in custody to December 29 on a charge of having instruments of burglary in his possession on December 16. He elected trial by jury. Ronald Alan Peters, aged 29, was remanded on bail to January 19 on a charge of false pretences on December 10. Sergeant Townshend opposed ball, saying that the alleged offence was committed while Peters was on bail. Peters was allowed bail in his own recognisance of £2OO, with two sureties of £2OO. Robert Gourley, aged 29, was remanded in custody to December 29 on a charge of false pretences.

Robin Francis Sheedy, aged 21, was remanded on bail to January 21 on three charges of assault at Lyttelton. A woman, whose name was suppresed, elected trial by jury on eight charges of forging cash credit notes and theft as a servant of £9. She was remanded on bail to January 26. Anthony Denis Murphy, aged 18, was remanded on bail to January 18 on a charge of break-

ing and entering the Beachball. Sumner, on December 8. He elected trial by jury. Eric Francis Elkis, aged 42, was remanded on bail to today on a charge of disorderly behaviour in the bathing sheds in Marine parade, on December 19. He pleaded not guilty. Anthony John Howard, aged 22, was remanded on bail to January 18 on a charge of breaking and entering His Lordship s Hotel on December 19.

Joshua Thomas Carson, aged 61, charged with impersonating the police on December IS, was remanded on bail to today. Paul Dawson, aged 19, was remanded on bail to January 14 on a charge of receiving a stolen electric guitar worth £5O on December 17. (Before Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M.) DRIVER GAOLED

Saying that he considered the case a very bad one of its kind and that imprisonment was the only course the Court could possibly consider, the Magistrate sentenced Vasil Frecka, aged 41, a painter, to 14 days’ imprisonment and cancelled his driver's licence for three years on a charge of driving under the influence of drink or drugs in Wilsons road on December 15.

On a charge of failing to stop after being involved in an accident in St. Asaph street on the same date, Frecka was convicted and fined £l5, and his driver’s licence was cancelled for a further 12 months.

Frecka pleaded guilty, and was represented by Mr J. H. F. Macfarlane.

Senior-Sergeant Cleary said that at 12.5 p.m. on December 15 the accused, driving erratically, collided with another car as he turned out of St. Asaph street, and then drove on. The accused drove to Wilsons road and parked his car in the middle of the road. Mr Macfarlane said that Frecka had had an emotional upset recently because of the death of a friend and his family. On the day of the offences he was invited to have a Christmas drink at a job where he was working. He remembered nothing of the accident. REMANDED Cyril Sydney McMillan, aged 44, a workman, was remanded on bail to tomorrow to enable him to apply for legal aid, when he appeared on a charge of stealing a transistor radio, valued at £3O, the property of Norman Louis Willard on November 9. (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.) CHARGE DISMISSED In a reserved decision the Magistrate dismissed a charge against Alan Frederick Ibbetson, a hotel manager, of supplying liquor to John Paul Henry and Monty John Julian when they were under 21 on May 9. The charge was heard on July 27. Mr A. K. Archer, who appeared for the defendant, entered a plea of not guilty. Ibbotson was manager of the Sandridge Hotel. The Magistrate said the defendant was not present when the youths were served liquor, and the case was one of vicarious liability. Mr Archer raised the defence that as the defendant was only a manager he was not liable for the acts of the employees, but that had since been overruled by the Court of Appeal.

There had been no prosecution of the person who had supplied the liquor, and the youths had been unable to identify the person, said the Magistrate. He was satisfied the youths bought liquor at the hotel, and the presumption was that the persons behind the bar had authority to supply liquor. However, the person responsible had not been identified, and the charge would be dismissed.

1000 Protest—About 1000 people on Saturday attended a rally in New York called to protest against United States involvement in the fighting in South Vietnam. The rally was sponsored by a committee of clergymen, writers and workers.—New York, Dec. 20.