MAGISTRATE’S COURT Youth Admits Possessing Offensive Weapon

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31276, 24 January 1967, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Youth Admits Possessing Offensive Weapon

When the accused was apprehended in Burgess street, Sumner, at 11.30 p.m. on January 22, he said there was going to be a fight and he was going to “help his mates and attack the surfies,” said Sergeant F. G. Mulcare, when John Lester Gardyne, aged 17, a workman, appeared before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, bn a charge of being in possession of an offensive weapon without lawful authority. Sergeant Mulcare said Gardyne was seen with a piece of timber held close to his leg. The timber was part of a park bench, near which was found a stone which had been used to break the board from the bench.

Gardyne, who had previous convictions, pleaded guilty. He was remanded until January 30 for a probation officer’s report and sentence. Bail was allowed. FINED £75 William Robert Woodcock, aged 56, a woolstore worker, was fined £75 when he appeared for sentence on a charge of assaulting a woman, aged 73, on December 28. Mr M. J. Glue appeared for the accused. Mr Glue said the accused posed a tremendous problem to society as he was lonely and was obsessed by sexual problems. He had been a persistent offender, hut was more of a nuisance than anything else. He was not a source of danger. The Magistrate: He has been convicted of attempted rape and for a number of indecent assaults. Mr Glue said the circumstances of the attempted rape were not as serious as was usual on such a charge. Dealing with the present offence, Mr Glue said that Woodcock had gone into the home of a 73-year-old bedridden woman, who lived alone, and started kissing her. Woodcock had done a tremendous amount of work for the church and was taking drug treatment with some measure of success. The Magistrate said the offence was a nasty one from the point of view of the woman. It was an extremely unpleasant business and was a very frightening experience for an elderly woman alone in bed. “Because of the circumstances and your previous record my view was that you should go to prison for a long time, but I have heard your counsel and read the report from Sunnyside Hospital. You will be fined £75,” the Magistrate said. ATTEMPTED BURGLARY

Peter Brian Meadows, aged 29, a driver, was remanded in custody .to January 30 for sentence on two charges of attempted burglary. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Mulcare said that at 12.45 p.m. on January 20 Mrs F. A Griffiths, of 28 Carlton Mill road, told the police that she had just returned home and had disturbed a man who was attempting to enter her home through a side window. The man made off through a neighbour’s property. At 1.50 p.m. the same day a man was seen to enter the property of Mrs E. F. McKenzie, at 84 Andover street. He tried the back door and then tried to open a window. The police apprehended Meadows 500 yards from the house. Sergeant Mulcare said. “QUARRELSOME PERSON” Terence Eric Gilchrist, aged 21, a driver, was fined £3 on a charge that, being a quarrelsome person and having been ordered to leave the New Railway Hotel, he refused to do so on November 19. He was fined £3 and was ordered to pay witnesses' exipenses of £3 on a charge of behaving in a disorderly manI ner in the New Railway Hotel. He pleaded guilty to both charges and was represented by Mr R. G. Blunt Sergeant Mulcare Mid about 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 19, Gilchrist was in the public bar of the New Railway Hotel with an elderly man when a dispute arose. The elderly man became most distressed and Gilchrist was told by the head barman that he would be served no further liquor. He was told to leave. He did so, but came back. The police and the licensee asked him to leave, but he refused. While Gilchrist was in the hotel he was argumentative, Sergeant Mulcare said.

Mr Blunt said that the offences arose out of a misunderstanding. Gilchrist knew the old man, who was a friend of his father-in-law. The old man claimed that Gilchrist had assaulted him, but this was not true. He refused to leave the hotel unless he was charged with assaulting the old man, who had since admitted that he had been mistaken. Gilchrist spent the night in the cells on the

charge of being a qwrrel- < some person, an offenA, on 1 which the police were n«en- ' titled to arrest him. The : offences were only tech&al ' ones. A 1 RESISTED POLICE V Peter John Cahill, aged 27,1 a , box-maker, was convicted aa lined a total of £9 after pleadlm guilty to two charges arising from a disturbance at the Exceil sior Hotel on January 21—refusl Ing to leave the hotel when! ordered, and resisting the police. Cahill, said Sergeant Mulcare, had been causing a disturbance, and refused to leave when asked by the manager. The police were called, and assisted the manager to remove Cahill, who resisted violently, and continued to do so on the footpath. CahlH said he had booked into the hotel, and thought he had a right to be there. “I realise my mistake, and wish to apologise for the trouble and inconvenience caused,” he said. ROGUE AND VAGABOND

'■ Neville Anthony Peter Matthews, aged 18, a storeman, was convicted and remanded until January 30 for a probation officer’s report and sentence when he pleaded guilty to being a rogue and a vagabond in that he was found without lawful excuse in a property in Breezes road on December It, 19tt. Sergeant F. Mulcare said that Matthews had gone to the house of a girl when he knew she would be alone. The girl saw him outside the front door, but would not Ut him in, so he went to the back door, and was again unsuccessful in gaining admittance. DISCHARGED

“The offence was not the result of premeditated or prior planning, but committed on sudden impulse.” said Mr J. S. Wilson for Michael James Dalcom, aged 18, an airforce officer cadet, appearing for sentence on a charge of unlawfully taking a motor car on January 14. Mr Wilson said the action was bewllderlngly difficult to account for, especially when Dalcom’s background was considered. Dalcom had taken the car from the Air Force base at Wigram in order to visit some relatives in Riccarton. He had only been in Christchurch for a short time, and in the Air Force only four days. “Dalcom had seen the other officer cadets getting ready to go out to town to dances and so on, and he was stricken by a sudden desire to go somewhere,”, said Mr Wilson. “There was no damage done to the vehicle; in fact there was more petrol in the tank on Its return than when it was taken.” Dalcom was discharged without conviction under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act and ordered to pay fIS towards the cost of prosecution. BURGLARY About 10.15 p.m. on January 15, a police patrol noticed a broken window at the premises of Graham Stewart and Company, 15 Lismore street, said Sergeant Mulcare. The rear door of the premises was also found unlocked. Before the court was Robert Waru, aged 31, a wild gtrne processor, who pleaded guilty to four charges of breaking and entering. „ , He was remanded until January 30 for a probation officer s report and sentence. Sergeant Mulcare said that when Waru was apprehended, he admitted breaking and entering three other premises: the State Coal Company in Lismore street, on January 1; Packer and Jones, 25 Churchill street, on August 13, I 960; and C.S. Agencies, 11 Lismore street, on August 8, 1960. Bail was allowed. Waru was employed by Graham Stewart and Company at the time he burgled their premises, said Sergeant Mulcare. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR Garth Owen Edward Dorrans, aged 18, a fitter, was fined £l5 when he pleaded guilty to a charge of behaving in a disorderly manner at Lyttelton on January 21. Sergeant Mulcare said a policeman at Lyttelton saw Dorrans on Norwich Quay trying to start a fight with a group of seamen. Later Dorrans was arrested in London street driving a car with both doors open. He was shouting at the same group of seamen. ONE MONTH’S GAOL

John Bernard Lawrence, aged 38, unemployed, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment when he pleaded guilty to a charge of being Idle and disorderly in that he had insufficient means of support on January 22. Sergeant Mulcare said the police found Lawrence at the rear of a shop in Hampshire street, Aranui, lying in a box covered by a sack. He had not worked for three months. EJECTED FROM THEATRE

Mervyn Robert Brain, aged 17, an apprentice painter, who had to be forcibly ejected by the police from the Rialto Theatre, Kaiapoi, on January 22, was convicted and fined £l5 after pleading guilty to a charge of disorderly behaviour. Brain had been involved in a disturbance in the dress circle of the theatre, said Sergeant Mulcare, and was taken by theatre staff to the lower foyer, but rushed back Inside. When the police were called, they had to use force to eject Brain. CHARGES DENIED Norman Fox, a machinist, was fined £5 for refusing to give his name and address to the police and was ordered to pay costs on a charge of being found in a bar after hours. Fox, who pleaded not guilty to both charges, was represented by Mr A. K. Archer.

The offences were committed in the Lancaster Park Hotel on December 10. Mr Archer said that Fox’s explanation for being in the bar at 0.33 p.m. was that he was discussing with the wife of the licensee arrangements to play the piano in the bar on Saturday afternoons. He had spent 24 hours in custody and had to come from Wellington to defend the charges. CHANGE OF FLEA

Laurence Hayston, aged 42, a public servant (Mr M. J. Glue), after being given leave to with-

draw a previous plea of guilty on a charge of indecent assault ?. n a a .JI”! le K On J J,nu,,,y >»• elecI* i“ ry , »nd was remanded to February g tor the taking of depositions Bail was renewed. INDECENCY CHARGE A man aged 46, charged with committing an indecent act at Gore Bay, North Canterbury, on nubH a / y . 2 . 1 ’ W,thln v,ew ‘h" remanded on ball wf £lOO, to January 30. On the Application of Mr M. F. Hobbs 6 Bterirn* 6 ’ up P r '’ s e<l In ‘he \ FAILED TO REPORT „Y? . a T ,rge ‘oiling to ree Probation officer at ioT. n „i. Agne ® 'Phomas, aged ch’l a . w 4‘ r ess, was fined £5. ShipleaAd guilty. , h _%yo«»Wo not comply with tne krms bf probation you will saidA pr *T n >” ‘ he Magistrate Amhcellaneous _ Iprkecutions mi „ r . c A se A. liquor when a minor: lydby Christian Mathbar’ £5) 5 ' foun, i ta Public Supplied Auor to minor: ? rl «n DouMalTrainor, £7 10s; Arthur JubilelAdams, £lO. Allowed Hqusito be supplied to a minor: Aderlck William Barrett, £2. 1 .. , in „ b < •«» hours: Myrtle Iris Cralsck, £3; John Rex Dench, £3; hnley Richard Wilde, £3. I y <wvnßra Supplied liquoiefter hours: Myrtle Mary LoffXg Drunk In a pubX place, havIng been convict! previously within the last sixlbths: John Mark Doyle, £2, iwKfault three days’ Imprisonment Failed to notify Iputv Registrar of ownersig changeTerence Stephen Pildy, £2 No driver’s liceE; Brian James Nelson, £2. T

Owned a vicious di; Thelm Agenes Nichols, £5. 1 TRAFFIC CASI Failed to yield rigHof wav Shade Winifred Chaiion, £5 Charles Edward KerrMio, die qualified for three mahs am ordered to attend a Kirse o traffic lectures. T Careless use: Dltzabdi Myrth McTalnsh, £5; Gary (fchirlei Pulley, £B. No warrant of fitness :fcthoni George Rlngdahl, £1 iiiowet person without licence drlvi vehicle, £1; failed tolhangi ownership of car, coavlXj ant discharged); Gorddn Smith, £3 (drove without l&nce £5: no headlights, £lO, qualified for six months)! Careless driving: W*> n Henry Robinson, £O. T (Before Mr p. L. Mollneaux, CIVIL CLAIM I A claim of £172 10s for repairs by Jack Hunt, a gentl engineer, against John Im Haigh, a carrier, was settll out of court for £93, after tl claim was part heard.