MAGISTRATE’S COURT Defendant Given Opportunity To Make Restitution

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31412, 4 July 1967, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Defendant Given Opportunity To Make Restitution

“If you had made restitution, then my view of the case would be different. Therefore, I will give you a further 14 days to see what you can do in this direction,” said Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to Laurence lan Geddis, aged 20, a railway worker. Geddis (Mr S. G. Erber) was appearing for sentence on 18 charges of false pretences arising out of his attempts to obtain credit by fraud and assisting D. Bennett and G. Cassidy in the commission of false pretences.

The offences occurred at Invercargill (six charges) Dunedin (six charges), Nelson (two charges), Christchurch, Hokitika, Queenstown and Blenheim between February 10 and 20. Mr Erber said his client had been forced into the commission of the offences through a business commitment which dissolved rapidly around him. “He was also egged on to the offences by two more experienced and hardened criminals,” he said.

“He intends to borrow some money from his mother-in-law and this could be another sort of a penalty as his relations with her are somewhat strained .and he did not want to resort to this in order to make restitution,” said Mr Erber.

Geddis was remanded on bail to July 17. JOINT BURGLARY

Bruce Alexander Hall, aged 19, a storeman (Mr D. M. Palmer) and Rang! Mack Tawhai, aged 25, a printer (Mr J. K. Fuimaono), were each convicted and fined £25 when they appeared on a charge of burgling the Papanui Working Men’s Club on June 19.

They were also ordered to make restitution of £25 each. “If it were not for Tawhai and his good record, I would send you to prison,” the Magistrate told Hall.

Tawhai was placed on probation for one year and Hall was placed on probation for 18 months. Hall was also ordered not to drive a motor vehicle during his probation unless he was given leave to do so. FINED FOR ASSAULT

“You have had your fun, now you have to pay the costs; I don’t know if you think it was worth it or not,” said the Magistrate in sentencing Victor Albert Fox, aged 26, a workman. Fox appeared for sentence on a charge of assaulting N. Vaa and damaging a plate glass window on June 25. He was fined £l2 10s, on the assault charge and fined £lO and ordered to make restitution of £l3 Ils for damaging the window. MEDICAL REPORT

Two youths who, being reputed thieves frequented Clyde road with felonious intent, were remanded to tomorrow for a medical report, pending periodic detention. The youths, Wayne Eder, aged 17, unemployed and Terence David Johnston, also aged 17 and unemployed, were appearing for sentence on the charge. INDECENT ASSAULT

Hemi Paku, aged 17, a driver’s assistant, was fined £25 when he appeared for sentence on a charge of indecent assault on a female on June 11. He was represented by Mr L. M. O’Reilly. (Before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M.) ASSAULTS PROVED On charges of assault, Rhys Henry Taylor, aged 21, a draughtsman, and Jervois Cecil Davis, aged 20, an electrician, were each convicted.

Taylor was fined £l5. with witnesses’ expenses £3, and for using obscene language, he was fined £5. Davis was fined £2O on the assault charge and ordered to pay witnesses’ expenses £3. Both defendants (Mr J. W. Dalmer) denied th. charges that arose from an incident outside the Shanghai Cafe on June 17. The complainants, Ronald Ivan Hoare and Doreen Mavis Laing, gave evidence about a fight that started on the footpath about 11.15 p.m. The defendants were among a group of young persons on their way to a dance at a nearby coffee bar.

The complainants said that some remarks were passed by the defendants. One referred to Hoare and said: “Get out of the way, pop, you look as though you’ve had too much.’’ An argument ensued, during

which Davis struck Hoare several times with his fists and Taylor slapped Laing. Taylor also used obscene language.

In convicting the defendants, the Magistrate said that, the police and defence witness had given accounts that were “widely conflicting.” He was satisfied that the charges were proven. FINED £2O Robert John Thomas Paul, aged 37, a timber worker, told the police his companions had dared him to take a car from the driveway of a house, but before he could reach the street he was stopped by the owner and apprehended by the police. Sergeant A. D. Stevenson said. Paul pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully taking the car, valued at £l5O, on July 1. He was convicted and fined £2O and his period of disqualification was extended by three months to December 14. FALSE PRETENCE Sydney David Gibbs, aged 29. a salesman, was convicted and fined £4 on a charge of obtaining credit by a false pretence on April 17. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Stevenson said the defendant and two companions each ordered a meal in the Regent Cafe and left without paying. The defendant told the police that one of the persons with him had offered to pay for the meal. Gibbs was ordered to make restitution of 10s 6d. TOOK TV SET Owen Stanley Livingstone, aged 46, a painter (Mr J. K. Fuimaono). was convicted and remanded on bail to July 15 for sentence on a charge of stealing a portable television set valued at £lO7 10s from Hay's. Ltd., Sydenham, on June 16. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Stevenson said the defendant was seen walking across the shop yard with softiething under his coat. When approached by a shop employee he dropped the television set and ran. The set was damaged, and £5 restitution was sought. • ASSAULT Peter Ihaia Kapene, aged 23, an unemployed workman, was convicted and fined £2O oh a charge of assaulting Wiesa Przechecka on July 1. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Stevenson said Kapene told the police he gave the complainant a “rabbit killer” because he did not like the way she spoke to her

mother. She was admitted to hospital for observation as a result. ASSAULTED WIFE “I was a bit drunk, sir, that’s all,” James Munro Waller, aged 44, a wharf labourer, told the Magistrate in explanation for assaulting his wife, Yvonne Averill Waller, on July 1. He pleaded guilty to the charge. Waller was convicted and fined £l2. Sergeant Stevenson said the defendant struck both his wife and his daughter in the course of an argument at a party. CHOPPED UP RADIO Richard Royce Postlethwalte, aged 17, unemployed (Mr G. T. Mahon), was convicted and remanded on bail to July 7 for sentence on a charge of theft of a radio and money of a total value of £2O 8s on July 2. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Stevenson said the defendant took the radio and money from an unlocked house. He later decided to get rid of the radio and chopped it up with an axe before putting it in an incinerator and burning it. PRESENTED RIFLE On a charge of presenting a .22 calibre rifle at Trevor William Sparks on July 2, Clifford Ager, aged 17, a railway porter, was convicted and fined £5. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Stevenson said the defendant became involved in an argument over the ownership of a hat. He took the rifle from his car and pointed it at the complainant to frighten him. The rifle was not loaded and had no magazine in it. DISMISSED A charge against William Alexander Zane Galt, a hairdresser (Mr S. G. Erber), of obstructing a police constable on Juhe 25 was dismissed. The Magistrate said he was satisfied that at no time had the situation got beyond the control of the constable. Constable Bruce William Bellis said that about 2 am. on June 25 he saw two men loitering in an alley beside the Cashel street branch of the A.N.Z. Bank. When asked what he was waiting for the defendant said he was going to rob the bank. Later he said, “See that flagpole up there. I’m going to saw it down,” Constable Bellis said. As he was speaking to the defendant’s companion the de-

fendant tried to intervene by coming between them, yelling about cutting down the flag and thumping on the bank door, he said. STOLE STICKER A registration sticker which had been placed in the glove box of a car before the car was sent into the panel beaters was missing when the owner got the car back from the panel beaters. As a result, Colin Leslie Bush, aged 19, a body builder, was charged with the theft of the sticker on June 29.

He pleaded guilty and was fined £l5.

Sergeant Stevenson said the sticker was found yesterday on the windscreen of Bush’s car and that Bush had told the police he could not afford to pay the registration fee and therefore stole the sticker from the car at his place of employment. REMANDED Jackie Jacobs, aged 23, a driver, elected trial bv jury on a charge of assault. He was remanded until today for the taking of depositions. FOUND DRUNK Edward Thomas Callaghan, aged 45, a foundry worker, was convicted and fined £3, in default four days’ imprisonment, on a charge of being found drunk in Manchester street on July 1, having previously been convicted of drunkenness within the last six months. He pleaded guilty.

TRAFFIC CASES In traffic prosecutions convictions were entered and fines were imposed as follows: v £ a ™ ,es » drivin «: AIIC Collier MacDonald, £7 10s; Wayne Thomas Ross, £5; Adrian Jacob Laven, £7.