Son Stole, Mother Guilty Of Theft

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 16

Son Stole, Mother Guilty Of Theft

A widow whose nine-year-old son stole goods worth £63 4s Id was convicted and discharged under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act when she appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of theft of the goods.

Mr H. J. Evans. S.M., “reluctantly” agreed to the application of her counsel (Mr M I Glue) for suppression of her name.

She was ordered to pay £lO towards witnesses’ expenses and £5 towards the restitution of property not recovered. The Magistrate said it was a sad case, and he felt keen sympathy for her unhappy little boy who had shown that be knew that he had not only done wrong, but that his every answer incriminated his mother.

The boy had sneaked the articles between November 13 and December 31 last year; mostly from shops. He bad taken them all home to his mother, except for a few which he had given to his 15-year-old sister, said the Magistrate.

The question was whether the woman’s conduct amounted to theft. The fact that she did not use the goods did not exonerate her; the real issue was whether she intended to deprive the owners permanently of them. The Magistrate said intent had been proved. He had found unconvincing the woman’s statement that her son had flatly refused to take the goods back. It seemed that she had attempted to shuffle off her responsibility to find the true owners. It had been in her power to arrest the course of the boy’s actions. “He kept bringing them,” said the Magistrate, “and she kept receiving them. She at first denied all knowledge of the articles. That shows intent to keep and appropriate them for her own use ”

The Magistrate said he had no difficulty in finding that the woman must have believed that the owners of the goods could have been discovered by taking reasonable steps.