MAGISTRATE’S COURT Driver Gaoled For Week And Disqualified For Four Years

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31726, 9 July 1968, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Driver Gaoled For Week And Disqualified For Four Years

Assen Sposoff Pileff, aged 49, a scrap metal dealer (Mr G. T. Mahon), was imprisoned for one' week and disqualified from driving for four years when he appeared before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of driving under the influence of drink or drugs on Lincoln Road on June 29. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant J. P. Downes said the defendant drove his van at between 30 and 40 miles an hour within two feet of the kerb until he struck the back of a parked car. The car was pushed forward about 47ft before it struck a pole. The defendant was later arrested and certified by a doctor as unfit to drive. Mr Mahon said the defendant did not appreciate the condition he was in. REMANDED Stuart John Small, aged 18, a clerk (Mr J. G. Leggat), was remanded on bail of $750 in his own recognisance and a surety of a similar amount to July 15, when he appeared on a charge of injuring William Kenneth McFarlane on Saturday, under circumstances which, if death had been caused, he would have been guilty of manslaughter. No plea was taken. The police opposed bail because, said Sergeant Downes, the charge was serious and there was quite a strong possibility that a graver charge would follow. OBSCENE LANGUAGE, ESCAPE Two fines of 150 each were imposed on Raymond Gray, aged 19. a seaman, when he pleaded guilty to a charge of using obscene language and a charge of escaping from lawful custody. Sergeant Downes said that a constable had heard Gray call out the obscene language in the company of a crowd of youths and girls, in Canterbury Street. Lyttelton, at 11.10 p.m. on June 28. Gray had refused to get into a patrol car, and when a youth

had jumped the constable from behind, Gray had taken the opportunity to run off. He was located Bhortly afterwards in the back of a bus to Christchurch, at the Lyttelton Road Tunnel toll box. Gray was represented by Mr M. J. Glue. FINED. DISQUALIFIED Ernest Henry Pidgeon, aged 39, a driver (Mr J. A. Bretherton), whose car, the Court was told, had caused considerable damage when it collided with another car at the intersection of Tuam Street and High Street at 1.15 a.m. on June 30, was convicted of driving while under the influence of drink or drugs. Pidgeon, who pleaded guilty, was fined Sl2O and disqualified for three years. STOLE POTATOES A man who admitted stealing seven bags of potatoes valued at $2O from his employers, the New Zealand Railways Department, on July 7, was remanded on bail to July 15 for a probation officer’s report and sentence. Peter Leslie Menzies, aged 22, a railway traffic assistant, was being watched while he was loitering around carriages by the No. 1 store shed. The potatoes were found loaded in his van, said Sergeant Downes. In explanation to the police, Menzies said he had had financial troubles for some time. ABSENT FROM SHIP Roger Karl Brown, a seaman, was convicted and fined 840 and released on bail until August 2, pending deportation under the Shipping and Seaman Act, on a charge of being absent without leave from the Ruahine at Wellington on June 4. He pleaded guilty. John Edwin Mills, aged 17, a steward’s boy, was fined $4O, was ordered to pay a solicitor’s fee of $6.30, and Court costs of $5 and was granted bail pending deportation after he had pleaded guilty to a charge of being absent without leave from the Ruahine at Wellington on June 5. Mr M. J. Cashmere, who prosecuted for the shipping company, said Mills had signed on the ship in London on April 4. When the ship sailed from Wellington he was not on board. His quarters were searched and it was found that his personal possessions had been removed. Mills said he was sorry for the inconvenience he had caused the company. ASSAULTED WIFE ’’You’re a pretty miserable specimen of manhood,” the Magistrate said to Samuel Rupene Hopkinson, aged 32, a driver, when he appeared for sentence on a charge of assaulting his wife, Delores Hopkinson, on June 30. Hopkinson was admitted to probation for one year. This was Hopkinson s second time before the Court for assaulting his wife, the Magistrate said. The offence was caused by irritability, domestic upset and drink. The Magistrate ordered Hopkinson to abstain from liquor during the term of his probation and to take psychiatric treatment as directed. DISCHARGED Alistair Gordon Burns, aged 21, a university student (Mr G, R. Lascelles), was discharged without conviction under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act when he pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully interfering with a Police Department van on June 28. He was ordered to pay $5 towards the cost of prosecution. Sergeant Downes said a police patrol saw the defendant crouching behind the police van about 10 p.m. while it was parked in Durham Street, and heard the sound of air being released from a tyre. The defendant could offer no explanation. He said he had released the air on the spur of the moment. Mr Lascelles said the act was essentially a spontaneous piece of bravado. THEFT FROM FLAT On a charge of theft of a transistor radio, cigarettes and money of a total value of $76.30 on June 20, Barry Lester Neiling, aged 22. a workman, pleaded guilty and was convicted and remanded on bail to July 15 for sentence. Sergeant Downes said the defendant went with a companion to a Worcester Street flat for a drink with a friend. The friend was out so he went in, had a drink, and took the property before leaving. WILFUL DAMAGE Brian Lloyd Jones, aged 29, an unemployed workman, was convicted and fined $lO and ordered to pay restitution of $lO on a charge of wilfully damaging the rear window of a utility vehicle on July fl. He pleaded guilty.

Sergeant Downes said the defendant struck at the passing vehicle with his walking stick when it did not stop for him In Cathedral Square. ASSAULT Michael Cralk, aged 17, a galley boy, was convicted and lined >25 when he pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting James Edward Jackson, aged 52, in Norwich Quay, Lyttelton, on July 6. Sergeant Dowries said the defendant approached the comClalnant who was a Mranger to im and punched him on the jaw. The complainant fell, and he punched him in the chest as he attempted to get up. No word was spoken during the Incident, and the defendant could offer no explanation.

SUPPLIED MINOR On a charge of supplying liquor to a minor, Stanley Lawrence Davis was convicted and fined >lO. He pleaded guilty. Minor found In bar: Heather Marion Lundy, aged It, >l5. CHARGES PART HEARD Charges against Boyd Neville Buzen, aged 26, a furniture manufacturer, of careless driving in Straven Road and of failing to report damage to a bicycle on April 3 were adjourned part heard. Buzen. who was represented by Mr A. K. Archer, pleaded not guilty to both charges. David Murray Jackson, aged 14. said he stopped his bicycle behind a car and a trailer driven by Buzen In Straven Road at the Riccarton Road traffic lights. The car and trailer reversed and struck the front of his cycle, damaging It to the value of >7.25. after the lights had turned green. He spoke to Buzen who then drove off.

In a statement to Constable W. G. Stonehouse Buzen said he was stopped in the left-turn lane. When the lights turned green a bus which was in the through lane began to make a left turn, and he had to reverse to avoid an accident. The bus had to go into the through lane because it was Impossible for It to make a left turn from the correct lane because of road works In Riccarton Road at the time. CHARGE DENIED Lameta Taotua, aged 24. a Western Samoan freezing worker, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to leave New Zealand after his permit to remain in the country had expired, was remanded in custody until today. He pleaded guilty to a charge of being drunk In Worcester Street and was ordered to pay Court costs of >2. TRAFFIC OFFENCES In police traffic prosecutions convictions were entered and Ones imposed as follows: Carelessly used a motor ear: Brian Claude Goldsmith, >l5: John Wayne Baxter, >l5, disqualified for two months. Careless riding of motorcycle: Michael Langford, >5, and licence cancelled for four months. Failed to attend Army camp: David George McClure, >l5. (Before Mr W. F. Brown, S.M.) BURGLARY John Francis Heyden. aged 20 an unemployed workman (Mr K. N. Hampton) was convicted and remanded In custody to July 12 tor sentence on a charge of breaking and entering the Douglas Footwear Company's premises in Gasson .Street on June 23. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant V. F. Townshend said the defendant gained entry by breaking a window. He switched the power off in case there was an alarm system. Property valued at >171.57 was taken.