MAGISTRATE'S COURT Three Years’ Imprisonment For Indecent Assault

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31030, 9 April 1966, Page 20

MAGISTRATE'S COURT Three Years’ Imprisonment For Indecent Assault

Three years imprisonment was imposed on John Hugh Coe, aged 28, a storeman, when he appeared for sentence before Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court on Thursday on three charges of indecently assaulting girls.

The charges related to assaults against three girls aged six, nine, and 12 on March 5 Coe was represented by Mr J. R. Milligan. Coe had spent more than nine years in penal institutions since he was 17, said Mr Milligan. It seemed that the longer he stayed in prison the worse his reaction to society might be. Sex offences were out of character for Coe, and he had been greatly disturbed by what he termed his inability to remember. A lot had been said about Coe's part in the offences and the effect of penalty on him, but nothing had been said of the effect on the girls concerned, said the Magistrate. They had been indecently assaulted in a disgusting and depraved manner. Young girls were going to be protected to the utmost by him, said the Magistrate. He took the view that in such cases it was his duty and the duty of the Court to protect young persons. FICTITIOUS MESSAGE

A youth who “felt the police were on his back and he was sick of it” gave the police a fictitious message alleging that two constables had been drinking, said Sergeant J. M. Phelan.

Laurence lan Geddes aged 18, a truck driver (Mr G. R. Lascelles), pleaded guilty to a charge of giving the police a fictitious message. He was fined £lO.

At 8.50 p.m. on February 3, Geddes was questioned by Constable R. L. Stapley and Constable M. R. Banks about an old car he was driving, said Sergeant Phelan. Geddes became abusive, and said he knew how to fix the constables.

At 9.15 p.m. a telephone call was received at the Central Police Station from Geddes saying the two constables had been drinking and their speech was slurred. Immediate inquiries were made, and Constable Stapley was seen at 940 p.m. and Constable Banks at 10.25 p.m. Neither had been drinking. Geddes was interviewed on February 19, and frankly admitted he had made a false complaint, said Sergeant Phelan. He said he was angry with the police, and wanted to get his own back. DISCHARGED He appreciated that shoplifting was a matter of great concern, but he was not prepared to accept that a person of the accused’s age could be described as a shoplifter, said the Magistrate when Lionel Howard Grafton, aged 87, retired. appeared on a charge of stealing a tin of pilchards and four batteries worth 4s 7sd from Woolworths, Ltd., on March 10. Grafton was discharged with ©ut conviction under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act. He pleaded guilty, and was represented by Mr N. D. Thomson: In view of the accused’s age and the difficulty in getting precise instructions from him it had been considered desirable to enter a plea of guilty, said Mr Thomson. Grafton could give intimate accounts of what happened before the Boer War, but he was in a state of utter confusion with later matters He relied on his wife, who was aged 74, and he had been waiting for her in the shop. The question of Grafton’s intention might well have been extremely difficult to establish, said the Magistrate in dismissing the charge. FINE, DISQUALIFIED Thomas Frazer Tait, aged 52, a barman <Mr W. F. Brown), was convicted and fined £5O, and was disqualified from driving for three years, when he appeared on a charge of driving on the Main South road at Sockburn on March 24 under the Influence of drink or drugs. He pleaded guilty. FORGERY A man, whose name was suppressed (Mr R. de R. Flesher), pleaded guilty to six charges of forgery, and was fined £3 on each charge. The accused’s actions amounted to defiance of the terms of his employment, said the Magistrate. While he was satisfied that there had been no criminal intent, the accused had falsified documents and would be convicted and fined for doing so. A charge of theft of £4 15s 3d by failing to account, to which the man pleaded not guilty, was dismissed. There was some doubt as to the accused’s intention in the matter, the Magistrate said. CLIMBED IN WINDOW Harry Burgoyne. aged 61. a pensioner, was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence in six months if called on on a charge of behaving in a disorderly manner in Chancery lane on March 23. He pleaded not guilty. Janet Mary Humphries said •he was standing at a window of the N.A.C. office and Burgoyne walked along the lane and told her to shut the window. as anyone could climb in. She said no-one could climb in, • nd Burgoyne then did so. He just wanted to prove that he could climb through, said Burgoyne. He was suffering from the effect of drugs at the time. ASSAULT Brian David Carey, aged 21, a truck driver, pleaded guilty to assaulting William Leslie Priestley on February 26. He was fined £5. Sergeant Phelan said Priestley was sitting on his motor cycle in Seaview road at 6.40 p.m. when Carey and several companions approached him. An argument developed, and for no apparent reason Carey struck Priestley violently in the face . with his hand. The accused, i who had been drinking, claimed to the police that he had been : provoked. FINED £l5 Peter James Graham, aged 18, a sewer labourer (Mr S. G. Erber), was fined £lO on a charge of wX/ul trespass on April 4, and £5 on a charge of wilfuLly damaging a wa'.i on the same date. He was ordered to make restitution of £5 10s. He pleaded guilty. UNLAWFULLY ON SHIP Three girls were convicted • nd remanded in custody to I April 15 for sentence when thev p.eaded guilty to charges of berng un’.awfuKy on a ship a Lyttelton on April «. They are A -son Stella Watson, aged 21 unemployed, Lisa Ann Curtis, aged io. unemployed, and

Jeanlna Martin, aged 19, unemployed. Sergeant Phelan said the pohce believed that the girls nad given incorrect names and this was being investigated. BURGLARY Appearing for sentence on a charge of burglary on March 18, Barry Anthony Knowles, aged 21. a workman (Mr J. F. Burn), was placed on probation for two years, ordered to pay £lO towards the cost of the prosecution. and ordered to live and work where directed by the probation officer. INDECENT ASSAULT The accused indecently assaulted a girl and then warned her he would half-fcWC her if she told anyone, said Sergeant Phelan when Joseph Colin McMahon, aged 37, a storeman. pleaded guilty to two charges of indecently assaulting a girl on July 2 lasi year and between April 3 and April 9. 1964. He was convicted and remanded in custody to April 15 for sentence. THEFT Charged with theft of money and stamps valued at £8 10s 4d from a stamp-vending machine, the property of the Post Office, on March 28. a youth, whose name was suppressed, was convicted and remanded on baitf to April 28 for sentence. Mr M J. Glue appeared for the youth, who pleaded guilty. • Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley. S.M.) DISCHARGED Charged with theft. Graeme Bruce McFarlane, aged 19, a shearer, was discharged under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act. McFarlane, who was not represented, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a radio, valued at £25, from a party at a motel. However, the Magistrate noted that in his state ment to the police McFarlane had said that he took the radio as a joke and it was later stolen from him. “If you are teJling the truth.’’ the Magistrate told McFarlane, “then you are not guiilty of this charge. Are you telling the truth?’’ The accused: Yes In dismissing the charge, the

Magistrate cautioned McFarlane and ordered Mm to pay £lO towards the cost of prosecutaon. PROBATION FOR YOUTHS Charged with burglary, John Richard Lesley Morrison, a car cleaner (Mr W. S. Smith), and Graeme Eric Turton, a butcher iMr P. J. Thompson), were placed on probation for 18 months, and ordered to pay £4O towards the cost of prosecution and £ll 4s Id restitution. The youths were ordered not to associate during the term of probation. FINED £l5 A man, whose name was suppressed. was fined £l5 on charges of unlawfully taking a motor-car and theft when he appeared for sentence. He was represented by Mr W. Gilroy. FRAUD A man and his wife, who jointly obtained about £27 by fraud, were placed on probation for 18 months, and ordered to pay restitution of £l7 3s 2d. The names of the accused were suppressed. They were represented by Mr R. G. Blunt. FINED. DISQUALIFIED Wilhclmus Johannes Boeyen, aged 22, a butcher, was fined £3O and his driver's licence was cancelled for three years, on a charge of driving under the influence of drink or drugs on February 25. Boeyen (Mr P. G. S. Penltngton) pleaded not guilty. (Before Mr H. J. Evans. S.M.) FINED FOR ASSAULT Charged with assaulting a girl aged 16 on January 22, Eric David Williams, aged 20, a metal polisher (Mr K. M. Hampton), was convicted and fined £lO, and was ordered to pay a witness’s expenses of £2. He pleaded not guilty. The complainant said that she was standing in Cathedral square with a friend at 10.40 p.m. on January 22 when she was approached by two men, one of whom was the accused. Williams asked her to go to a partv, but she refused. He continued to pester her, and then hit her in the eye. Tn defence, Williams said that the girl hit him first, so he hit her in return.