MAGISTRATE’S COURT Youth Gaoled For Three Months For Car Conversion

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31279, 27 January 1967, Page 15

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Youth Gaoled For Three Months For Car Conversion

“Car conversion is a popu- ; lar offence with irresponsible 1 persons and must be dis- 1 couraged,” said Mr E. A. Lee, ‘ S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court ; yesterday, when he sentenced i Richard Allan Rarere, aged i 20, an apprentice plasterer i (Mr J. R. Milligan) to three i months’ imprisonment on a i charge of unlawfully taking a i car, the property of P. D. i Hood. Rarere was also sentenced i to seven days’ imprisonment : on a charge of driving under the influence of liquor in Papanui road, to be served cumulatively. He was convicted and discharged on a charge of not having a licence. Rarere was appearing for , sentence. Mr Milligan said Rarere was so drunk when he committed the offences that he lost con- , sciousness after he had been taken into custody by the police and could not be examined by a doctor. He had been to a party where he had drunk a large amount of liquor. When Rarere was on his way home he saw the car with the ignition keys in it. He drove the car, which was involved in an accident and extensively damaged. Rarere had settled down and was almost at the end of his apprenticeship as a plasterer. He had spent a week in gaol because he failed to report while on bail. He had paid off a number of debts, Mr Milligan said. “In November of last year .

you were fined £2O for unlawfully getting into a car,” the Magistrate said to Rarere. “On this occasion not only did you get into someone else’s car but you drove it erratically at night on a busy street, created a danger to other road users and then crashed it into a pole and caused more than £lOO worth of damage. “You are not in a position to pay a substantial fine so you will be sent to prison,” the Magistrate said. Rarere’s driver’s licence was cancelled for seven years on the charge of driving under the influence. BEGGING “I didn’t know what I was doing at the time as I had quite a few drinks in me,’’ Charles George Reede, aged 67, a pensioner, said to the Magistrate. Reede, who pleaded guilty to a charge that on January 25 he was deemed to be a rogue and a vagabond in that he begged for alms in Latimer square, was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. RECEIVED STOLEN MONEY “The fact of the money being stolen doesn’t seem to be challenged. The only conflict is whether or not the defendant knew when she received the money that it had been dishonestly obtained,” said the Magistrate when he convicted Nancy Marguerite Ann Petherick. aged 20, a machinist, of receiving £8 on November 15, 1966, knowing it to have been stolen. Petherick, who pleaded not guilty, was represented by Mr A. R. Cottrell. Mr Cottrell said that Petherick had been drinking rum and then beer, and she did not really know what was going on. Petherick was remanded until today for a probation officer’s report and sentence.

FIREARM OFFENCES Robert Keith McLeod, aged 18, an apprentice carpenter, was fined £5 on a charge of procuring a firearm when under 21 and £4 on a charge of delivering a semi-automatic .22 calibre pistol. He pleaded guilty to both charges. Sergeant F. G. Mulcare said on September 1 a youth appeared before the Court on a number of offences involving firearms. It was found that McLeod had given the youth a .22 pistol and had obtained a single barrel shotgun ammunition and other items in exchange. Mr M. J. Glue, for the defendant, said McLeod was not an irresponsible youth. He was interested in firearms and was only 16 when he purchased the Distol. He was ignorant of the law. THEFT CHARGE Kathleen Joyce Bolstad. aged 19. married, was remanded on bail to February 2 for sentence on a charge of stealing jewellery and clothing valued at £l9 ss. She pleaded guilty. Sergeant Mulcare said the articles were stolen from a person who had been living at the same address in Palmerston North. When the owner of the goods telephoned Bolstad she denied she had them. Later she sent a watch to a friend in Palmerston North so that it could be returned to its owner. PRISON FOR DRIVER

The accused was signalled to stop after he was seen driving west along Moorhouse avenue about 6.15 p.m. on December 17, 1966, said Sergeant Mulcare when John Edmond Dick, aeed 37. a butcher (Mr A. P. C. Tipping) pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drink or drug.

“He was apparently in an ad. vanced state of intoxication and was driving very badly,” said the Magistrate in sending Dick to prison fnr 10 days and disqualifying him for five years. STOLE TWO RADIATORS Roger Leslie Graham, aged 17, unemployed, was remanded on bail to February 2 for sentence on a charge of stealing two car radiators, valued at £l4, the property of Joseph William Groom, on November 16. He pleaded guilty.

STOLE CAR COVER “If he had had any gumption, he would have taken the car cover back—but he didn’t,” said Mr A. R. Cottrell when a man, whose name was suppressed, appeared on a charge of stealing a car cover valued at £lO on January 2.

Mr Cottrell said that the man committed the offence purely on impulse and immediately regretted the act. He wanted to return the cover, but did not know how to go about this. The man was fined £l5. STOLE FLAGONS

Harold Maurice James Smither a turner, aged 48, (Mr M. J. Glue) pleaded guilty to stealing two crates of half gallon beer flagons, valued at £2 4s, the property of Donald James Wood, on October 3, 1966. Sniither was fined £l2 and ordered to make restitution of £2 4s. FINED £lO

John Cuthbert Slade, aged 20, a workman who stole 4s 8d from a “Press” honesty box on January 13, and stole a crate of lemonade valued at £1 7s the property of Ballins Industries, on the same day, was fined a total of £lO when he appeared for sentence.

Slade was ordered to make restitution of 4s 8d and an order was made for the return of Ballin’s property.

FINED FOR ASSAULT Alex Toarangatira Pana, aged 22, a workman, was fined £lO for assaulting Gordon Cameron Taylor on December 10. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Mulcare said that at 6.15 p.m. Taylor was sitting in a truck when he saw Pana looking through cars in the Star and Garter Hotel car park and he asked him what he was doing. Pana told him to mind his own business and struck him through the open window of the truck.

SHOPLIFTING A middle-aged woman, whose name was suppressed, was fined £8 on a charge of stealing clothing valued at £3 Is 6d from a shop. She pleaded guilty. “I ask that her name be suppressed not for her sake, but for the sake of her five children and sick husband,” Mr A. P. C. Tipping said. “I have no doubt that she Is very nervous and upset now she has been caught,” the Magistrate said. Mr Tipping said the doctor's report disclosed that there was a medical background to the offence. FINED £lO On a charge of being unlawfully on the Riccarton Racecourse when a race meeting was being held, Terrence McDonald, aged 26, a scrap metal buyer, was fined £lO. REMANDED Peter William Balchln, aged 20, an upholsterer, was remanded until February 1, under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act, when he appeared on a charge of assault with intent to commit rape on November 21, 1966. On a further charge of assault on October 26, 1966, Balchin was remanded until February 6. Balchin (Mr J. R. Milligan) did not plead. STOLE FROM SHOP

A woman, whose name was suppressed, was’ convicted and remanded until February 2 for a probation officer’s report and sentence when she pleaded guilty to stealing goods worth 5t 3d from a shop on December 8, 1966,

DECISION RESERVED The Magistrate reserved his decision as to whether there was a prima facie case for Terence Robert Dickson, aged 18, a sheet metal worker, to answer on a charge of theft of £29 from the person of Leslie George Whitehead on November 15. Dickson had elected trial by jury, and depositions were taken yesterday. Mr M. J. Glue appeared for the accused. Dickson was remanded on bail to January 30. TRAFFIC CASES No driver’s licence: William John Samuel Eddy, £l. No warrant of fitness: Charles Jesse Forward, £1; Josephine Olive Hamilton. £l. Failed to give way to the right: Ronald Kenneth Pryer, £5; Lester Trevor McDonald, £10; Christopher Brian Bradley,

Careless driving: James Hallam, £4; Dennis Noel Holland, £l2. licence cancelled for six months, and ordered to attend traffic lectures; Trevor Patrick Kirby, £l2, and ordered to attend traffic lectures; Gavin John Stevens, £lO, and ordered to attend traffic lectures. Failed to notify deputy registrar of sale of van: Patrick Francis Ryan, £l. Permitted unlicensed person to ride motor-cycle: Lindsay Morton Walter, £l. Failed to notify army of change of address: T6ddy Rapana, £5.

Opened car door dangerously James Henry Black, £5.

(Before Mr P. L. Molineaux. S.M.)

ABSCONDER FROM BAIL Three traffic charges against Charles Erik Paterson, aged 51, a schoolteacher, who has absconded to Australia from bail on a charge of driving under the influence of drink or drugs —and as an adjudicated bankrupt was said to be facing penal provisions of the Bankruptcy Act—were heard in his absence, after Mr L. M. O’Reilly said he had had instructions for a defence.

Paterson, a warrant for whose arrest was issued by Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., on Wednesday, faced charges of having insufficient lights, failing to keep left, and having no driver’s licence—on all of which he was convicted and fined a total of £6. Mr O’Reilly said Paterson was an alcoholic, who was highly qualified as a schoolteacher, and had lately worked as a scholastic coach, but was now in debt of £2OOO. He had gone to Australia to take up a teaching post at £2OOO a year—but it seemed doubtful that he could hold it.

“I’m regarding the defendant as a sick man, whose life is already in a hopeless condition,’* said the Magistrate. “I don’t want to make it any harder for him—but I think he should be off the road In New Zealand.”

Paterson was fined £3 for falling to keep left, and disqualified from driving for a year should he return to New Zealand, fined £2 for having no lights, and £1 for having no driver’s licence. TAXI-DRIVER WINS CASE A defended charge against Kenneth Mervyn Turner, a taxidriver (Mr J. F. Burn), of careless driving in Ferry road on August 6 was dismissed, after Mr Burn had submitted that Turner had been entitled to stop on the left of the roadway, as he had done, and that a following driver, who had struck the rear of his taxi, had failed to see It in time. Prosecution evidence was first led on the basis that Turner had driven left out of Oak street into Ferry road in front of an oncoming car—but its driver, Harold Edward Hendy, a book-binder, conceded in cross-examination that Turner’s taxi was completely in Ferry road, and had pulled towards the left and stopped, just before he struck it. SPEEDING CHARGE A defended charge against Alexander Robert Mclntyre, a schoolteacher (Mr J. W. Dalmer), of driving in New Brighton road on the night of September 1 at a speed which might have been dangerous was reduced, after evidence had been heard, to one of exceeding 30 miles an hour, on which McIntyre pleaded guilty, and was convicted and fined £9. He had been “running late” for a piano-playing engagement at New Brighton, it was said.

RESERVED DECISION In a reserved decision from the Rangiora Magistrate’s Court, Brian Wilfred Corrie, a breakdown garage proprietor (Mr H. J. B. Quigley), was convicted and fined £lO for exceeding 40 miles an hour on the Main North road at Amberley while towing a trailer. The Magistrate said he accepted the evidence of Constable White, of Amberley, that Gorrie had been driving at “a phenomena] speed”—estimated at 75 miles an hour, and 80 miles an hour when overtaking. Gorrie, with a previous conviction for speeding, had now reached the point where his licence was "in grave jeopardy,” the Magistrate said.

SHOPLIFTING Kathleen Elizabeth Williams, aged 36. a housewife (Mr R. F. B. Perry), who pleaded not guilty, was convicted on a charge of stealing five pairs of women’s panties, valued at £1 9s 7d, from Miller’s, Lid., on December 16 and remanded on bail of £25 to February 6 for a probation report and sentence.

(Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley,

“NO TIME TO REFLECT” A charge against Bruce Raymond Swain (Mr A. Hearn), of assaulting Brian James Calvert at an engagement party in Hoon Hay, was dismissed, the Magistrate saying that the defendant, had he been holding a glass, would not have had time to reflect that he should put it down when the incident, in which Calvert claimed that the defendant struck him repeatedly on the head with a broken glass, began. No witness had seen the defendant pick the glass up or use it, the Magistrate said, and there would necessarily be confusion over what had occurred. “CONFLICT OF EVIDENCE”

Dismissing a charge against Hendrick Nicholas Azon Jacometti (Mr A. Hearn) of failing to stop for a red light, the Magistrate said that a sharp conflict of evidence left him Insufficient certainty for a conviction. TRAFFIC CASES

In other defended cases, convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows: Insecure load in Lyttelton tunnel: Ronald Bruce Crabb, costs ohly. Exceeding 30 miles an hour in tunnel: Dennis Michael Feeney, £lO. Exceeding 30 miles an hour earring a pillion passenger without a safety helmet: Paul Thomas Findlay, £2. Overtaking in tunnel: Ross WiiMam Findlay, £10; David Callum Kennedy, £lO. Insecure load: Terence Joseph McDonald, £7. MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES Keeping unregistered dog: Desmond Cassidy, £2: Edward Saywell, £2: John Sheldon, £2. Failing to present dog for hydatid dosing: Ernest Dixon, costs only.

Failing to ensure a child’s attendance at school: Richard David Postlethwaite (four charges), £1 10s on each charge. Failing to furnish a return of income: Charles Ratapu Taukiri (two charges), £5 on each charge. No television licence: Noel James Quirke, £5.