MAGISTRATE’S COURT Young Men Fined For Harbouring Escaper

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31139, 16 August 1966, Page 10

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Young Men Fined For Harbouring Escaper

“We have terrible trouble with these girls who abscond from welfare institutions and they are encouraged by youths living in flats who provide them with shelter. It has become a grave social problem in this city,” said Mr H. J. K. Headifen, S.M., in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He imposed fines of £3O on Ngatokoitu Aerepo, aged 24, a metal worker; Tai Joseph, aged 21, a stone grinder ooerator; Tangi Amataiti, aged 25, a labourer; and Edward Nehua Tehana, aged 21, a fitter’s mate, when they appeared for sentence on charges of harbouring a child welfare girl escaper between August 4 and August 7. They had pleaded guilty. Rua Amataiti, aged 23, a I factory worker, who had also (pleaded guilty to a charge of (harbouring a welfare escaper on August 3 was convicted and discharged. Mr M. F. Hobbs, appearing for Rua Amataiti, said that the accused had been unintentionally involved in the harbouring. The defendant had returned to his flat to find a promiscuous female in his bed for the greater part naked, yet he had been the moving force in having the girl removed from the premises, Mr Hobbs said. Aerepo, Tangi, Amataiti, Tehana and Ngu Tiriamai, aged 26, a fish splitter, were also fined £2O on charges of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16. Rua Amataiti was fined £l5 on a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse and Tehana was fined £25 on a similar charge. They had all pleaded guilty. The Magistrate said that he would have considered a term of detention for Tehana, an islander, but for the fact that Tehana’s work permit expired in July, 1967, and no attempt would be made to extend it. The Magistrate said he would fine the defendants instead of imposing terms of detention, but he would not treat the matter lightly and the fines would be heavy considering the financial position the defendants were in. DECISION RESERVED The Magistrate reserved his decision when Derek Castleton Evans, aged 41, a printer (Mr R. G. Blunt) pleaded not guilty to a charge that on July 9 he drove a car in Papanui road while under I the influence of drink or drugs. Mr Blunt said the defendant admitted that at the time of arrest he was unfit to drive, but, as the police evidence showed, he had not been driving as the car was stationary and had been for some time. The fact that the engine was running and the right trafficator was out did not in itself show that the defendant was in fact driving anywhere. The Magistrate said that the submissions made by Mr Blunt revolved round the law’s definition of driving, and the wide implications of that definition raised bigger questions than he was prepared to settle at that time. OBSCENE LANGUAGE Alvin Alexander Campbell, aged 19, a machine moulder, was convicted and fined £25 on a charge of using obscene language in Cathedral square on August 6. When the Magistrate convicted Campbell he said he took a very poor view of this type of language. “People ought to be able to walk in our streets without having this foul language flung at them. The next time you will be sent to deten-

tion centre,’’ said the Magistrate. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR Raymond John Julius, aged 21. a plasterer, and John Howard Seaton, aged 18, a farm hand were convicted and remanded for sentence on charges of disorderly behaviour in the Church of the Immaculate Conception at New Brighton on August 14. LICENSING OFFENCES Supplying liquor after hours: Frederick Robert Childs, £7 10s. Supplying liquor to a minor' Peter Joseph Adams, £4. Consuming liquor after hours: Luo Scott, £3. OBSCENE LANGUAGE Lindsay Norman Thomson, aged 21, an apprentice plumber, was convicted and fined £2O on a charge of using obscene language in Hereford street on August 14. He pleaded guilty. OBSCENE EXPOSURE Frederick Claude Hale, aged 33, a workman (Mr G. R. Lascelles), was convicted and remanded in custody for a probation officer’s report and sentence on three charges of obscene exposure in Cranmer square on July 9 and 16, and at the Century Theatre on July 16 Hale pleaded guilty on the three charges. OBSTRUCTED POLICE Eric Ross Hardy, aged 23, a council employee (Mr A. R. Munro), was convicted and fined £5 when he pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing a police constable in execution of his duty in Worcester street at 12.05 p.m. on July 30. The Magistrate said that he accepted that the obstruction had been only verbal but the defendant had been repeatedly asked to stop interfering.

i IDLE AND DISORDERLY Walter Cook, aged 45, a workman, was ordered to appear for sentence if called upon within six months to do so, when he appeared for sentence on a charge of being idle and disorderly on August 8 in that he had insufficient lawful means of support. He had pleaded guilty. Anthony John Ross, aged 17, and Robert Marsh, aged 21, both unemployed, were convicted and remanded in custody to August 22 for sentence when they pleaded guilty to charges that on August 15 they were idle and disorderly persons in that they had insufficient lawful means of support. (Before Mr W. M. Willis, S.M.) FINED £5 Arnold Skilling, aged 35, a builder’s labourer (Mr R. L. Kerr), was convicted and fined £5 on a charge of consuming liquor on hotel premises after hours. Skilling pleaded not guilty. Sergeant A. G. Adcock said that on June 30 he had gone into the Imperial Hotel wine and dine and found Skilling sitting al a table drinking beer with a part-filled jug of beer on the table. Skilling had told him that he had eaten a plate of savouries, but these were not on the menu, said Sergeant Adcock. CHARGES DISMISSED A charge against Albert Edward Scarlett, aged 49, a cafeteria manager (Mr E. D. Sullivan), of assaulting Roberta Jean Scarlett on July 30, was dismissed. Scarlett pleaded not guilty. A charge against Geoffrey Lewis Gate, aged 22, a fish process worker (Mr M. J. Glue), of assaulting Gordon Alexander Gillespie in the Lancaster Park Hotel on July 23, was also dismissed.