MAGISTRATE’S COURT Probation For Fighting And Resisting Police

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30741, 4 May 1965, Page 12

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Probation For Fighting And Resisting Police

“You will get one chance only. This is it, this morning,” Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M-, told Graham James Ryan, aged 18, a plastic moulder (Mr J. W. Dalmer) when he appeared for sentence in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of fighting in a public place and resisting a constable in the execution of his duty. On each charge Ryan was relersed on probation for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay £lO towards the cost of prosecution. In view of the accused’s lamentable record he had made a promising beginning to his period on probation, said Mr Dalmer. He asked the Magistrate to consider extending the period. “Your probation officer’s report, as counsel has said, is quite encouraging, in that you are prepared to work and meet your obligations,” said the Magistrate. “On this occasion I am not going to take away your freedom.” However, he was not prepared to tolerate this sort of brawling in the streets, or resistance to the police as they went about what had been an unenviable task. The Magistrate warned Ryan that if he appeared again on similar charges he could expect to be sent to an institution. STOLE WALLET “I agree that the evidence is circumstantial in this case, but I am of the opinion that it is overwhelmingly circumstantial,” said the Magistrate, convicting Gordon Cyril Richards, aged 35, a timber orderman (Mr P. G. S. Penlington) on a charge of theft. Richards pleaded not guilty to stealing a wallet containing £5 from Warners Hotel on April 10. He was fined £7 10s. Gaynor Maureen Clements, a receptionist at Warners Hotel, said that about 6.10 pm. she went to get something from her handbag, which she had left in a room upstairs. When she entered she found a man in front of her, who then rushed downstairs. The contents of her handbag were strewn across a bed, and her wallet was missing. Kenneth John Brookman, a solicitor, said he" was standing by the reception desk when a man rushed from the direction of the stairs. He subsequently identified the defendant as the man he had seen. The Magistrate agreed with counsel that liquor might well have been the explanation for Richards’s conduct. REMANDED Kevin William Coles, aged 18. a workman (Mr A. A. P. Willy), appeared for sentence on charges of false pretences and theft of a bicycle. He - was remanded under the provisions of the Mental Health Act for observation and a report. (Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley. S.M.) FINED £4O Joseph Houaterangi Patene, aged 36; a shearer, was fined £4O and disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for three years when he admitted driving under the influence of liquor in Ferry road at 1.25 a.m., on May 2. Detective Sergeant E. J. Stackhouse said a police patrol car had had to brake sharply to avoid Patene when he was making a U-turn. DRUNKENNESS "They think I’m drunk before I’ve even had a drink,” said Gabriel Nisbet, aged 59, before being fined £3 for being drunk in Moorhouse avenue on April 30. He said he wobbled when he walked because his legs had been injured "I don’t want to cause any more inconvenience to the police or my relatives and friends.” he said. pleading guilty to the charge. The Magistrate said a plea of not guilty would not cause the police any inconvenience at all. When the fine was pronounced. Nisbett said he thought he could manage the £3 so long as he was given the usual 14 days to pay. "Yes.” said the .Magistrate, “and speaking of 14 days, that’s what you’re likely to get if you continue to offend.” As he was leaving the dock, Nisbet pulled an empty gin bottle from his pocket and asked the Magistrate if it would be all right for him to go ahead and have it refilled with medicine prescribed by his doctor. SHOP-LIFTING A man aged 62 was convicted on a shop-lifiting charge and ordered to come up for sentence within 12 months if called on. His name was ordered to be suppressed. He had taken a set of spanners and other articles from Woolworths’ store in High street oh April 9. FINED II 10s A man whose name was ordered to be suppressed was fined £1 10* when he pleaded

guilty to casting offensive matter in a public place on March 26. LIQUOR CHARGES William Bernard Puncheon, the barman of the Royal Hotel. Springfield, and Frederick Robert Childs, the licensee, were fined £lO and £2 respectively on charges of supplying liquor to persons under 21 on January 16. Evidence was given that police investigating a motor accident in which two youths were hurt on January 16 were told that they had earlier been drinking with other youths at the hotel. Mr A. K. Archer who appeared for the defendants, said Childs was in Christchurch on the day in question and had left Puncheon in charge. Puncheon had had doubts about the ages of the youths, he said. Fines of £7 10s were imposed on each of the following youths: Graeme Lyndon Morris, aged 19. farmhand: James Arthur Stubbs <l7), workman: Brian Kenneth Stubbs (19), farmhand; and Roger Noel Thomas (19), shop assistant. ILLEGAL TICKETS Convicted of being in possession of illegal lottery tickets, Raymond Alexander Gallagher, the licensee of the Lincoln Hotel, was fined £5. Evidence was given that a police search party found 22 raffle cards representing 374 numbers in Gallagher’s possession. He admitted raffling beer in half-dozen lots. Gallagher’s counsel (Mr G. T Mahon) said his client made no profit from the raffles and ran them only to meet public de. mand. DRUNKEN DRIVING The driver of an old model truck which was involved in a collision with another vehicle on the corner of Moorhouse avenue and Hagley avenue on May 1 was convicted on a charge of driving while under the influence of drink or drugs. The accused, Robert Zinala, aged 52, a factory hand, pleaded guilty and was fined £4O. His licence to drive was cancelled for three years. For accused, Mr A. K. Archer said it was not a bad case. Zinala had carried out the doctor's tests quite well. His slurred speech was caused by a pronounced foreign accent. The accident was a minor one, he said. NAME SUPPRESSED A man whose name was suppressed was convicted and fined £l2 10s on a charge of assault, ing his wife on May 2. The accused, a panel-beater, aged 22, pleaded guilty. Evidence was given that he struck his wife a violent blow during an argument. She required hospital treatment for a suspected broken nose, broken tooth and black eye. For accused, Mr M. F. Hobbs said he was a well-known and respected member of the community. Only one blow was struck during the domestic argument, he said. FOUND DRUNK Charles George Read, aged 62, was sentenced to one week’s gaol when he was convicted on a charge of being drunk in Purchas s-treet on May 1, having been twice convicted of a similar offence during the last six months. Read pleaded guilty. REMANDED Maru Rangl Poihipi, aged 23, and Winston Ponika, aged 24, were remanded to May 19 on a joint charge of burglary at Christchurch on May 2. Howard Leslie Shadbolt, aged 47, a managing director, was remanded to May 10 on a charge or driving on State Highway No. 1 on April 30 while under the influence of drink or drugs. Bail was fixed at £5O. Stanley Lawrence Anderson, aged 24, a painter (Mr R. G. Blunt) was remanded to May 10 with renewed bail on a charge of unlawfully converting a car to his own use on April 15. Graeme Charles Talbot, aged 24, was remanded to May 10 on a charge of driving a motorcycle in Hereford street on Stay 1 while disqualified. Bail was set at £lOO with one surety of £lOO, on the condition that he report daily to the police. A man whose name was ord'ered to be suppressed was remanded to May 10 on a charge of breaking and entering a house at 190 Withells road on April 25. Bail was set at £3O. A man aged 38, whose name was ordered to be suppressed, was remanded to May 10 on a charge of indecently assaulting a seven-year-old boy on March 21. Bail was renewed. Edgar Williams, aged 67, a pensioner, was remanded to May 10 on a charge of being drunk in charge of a bicycle in Brougham street on May 2. He pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at £2O.