MAGISTRATE’S COURT Committed For Trial On Burglary Charge

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31919, 21 February 1969, Page 15

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Committed For Trial On Burglary Charge

David George Keenan, aged 32, a workman, was yesterday committed for trial in the Supreme Court on a charge that On July 28 he burgled the jeweller’s shop of Reginald Walter Bernard Lloyd, 307 Selwyn Street The hearing was before Messrs M. C. Butler and A. H. Marker, Justices of the Peace, in the Magistrate's Court. Mr K N. Hampton appeared for Keenan who was remanded in custody. Detective Sergeant R. G. McMeeking appeared for the police. At the conclusion of the evidence Mr Hampton submitted that Keenan should not be sent for trial on what was "the flimsiest of flimsy cases.”

The evidence was not sufficient to establish a prima facie case and a case had to be established on evidence, not suspicion or supposition, he said. There was a lack of evidence connecting Keenan with the burglary. If Keenan were discharged that did not bar the police from bringing the charge again. There were important discrepancies among the witnesses Lloyd, Alvyn Turner and Nancy Guyton.

What had been heard about statements Turner and Guyton had made and had later denied on oath was, as a matter of law, not evidence against Keenan. On each occasion Detective Sergeant Donald Norman Stewart had spoken to Keenan over a four-month period, the first time a fortnight after the burglary, Keenan had said he was at home when the burglary occurred.

The only evidence of any relevance against Keenan was that of Brian Carrington but it was in Carrington’s own interests to implicate Keenan as it would assist with Carrington’s appeal against conviction for breaking into a Ferry Road jewellers, said Mr Hampton. Carrington’s evidence should not be accepted. There was the possibility that Carrington’s evidence was not true, Carrington’s evidence itself as to what was in the suitcase Keenan gave him was different from Lloyd’s evidence as to what was taken from the shop, and different also from the evidence of Guyton, who was there when Carrington opened the case.

Even if Carrington’s evidence was accepted then it had to be treated as the evidence of an accomplice, said Mr Hampton. Judges always warned juries of the dangers of convicting on the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice. Guyton’s evidence did not provide the required corroboration. The police were trying to use one suitcase to convict two men of two entirely different offences. They had already used it to convict Carrington and they were now using it against Keenan, Mr Hampton said. “The police should make up their mind in which case they want to use the suitcase. This is a classic case of the old adage about having your cake and eating it also.” DISQUALIFIED A youth who unlawfullv took * car, struck a parked vehicle and traffic Island, ran over lawns and flower beds In Victoria Square, and then drove into a car waiting lor the trafflc light to change, was disqualified from driving for three years and remanded on bail to February 28 for sentence. Johnny Beta Angell, aged 18, an unemployed drainage workman. pleaded guilty to the charges of unlawfully taking the car on February 13 and driving under the influence of drink or drugs on the same date.

Sergeant G. F. Davidson eaid the car taken by the defendant was seen being driven in an erratic manner in Colombo Street. It struck a parked car. ran into a traffic island in Victoria Square and mounted the footpath on to the garden

The defendant drove off and struck a car stopped for traffic lights. FIXED *4O "I warn you against any further offending of this kind. You have already got two previous convictions for assault," the Magistrate said when convicting Alan Schooner, aged 39, a driver, on a charge of assaulting Barbara Schooner on February 19. He pleaded guilty. The defendant was fined MO. Sergeant Davidson said the defendant struck the complainant about the head and body and kicked her when he found ber with their children at a friend's home about 10 p.m. He had been drinking but was not drunk. SUPPRESSED Two women, whose names were suppressed (Mr M. J. Glue) were each convicted and fined *M when they pleaded guilty to a. charge of stealing a sheet, pillow case and towel valued at 90.50 on January 17. Mr Glue said the defendants had acted Impulsively when leaving their place of employment. They took the articles from the staff quarters because they felt they had been underpaid in regard to holiday pay. SHOPLIFTING On a charge of stealing a change purse and set of earrings valued at 91.74 from Woolworths, Ltd., on February 19, Bonita White, aged 25. unemployed, was convicted and fined 935. She pleaded guilty. Sergeant Davidson said a member of the store’s staff saw the defendant put the articles in her handbag and leave without paying. She admitted the offence when interviewed by the police, and said that she bad sufficient money in her possession to pay for the articles. FINED 315 "The defendant is simply minimising what he did to Nlblett and maximising what Niblett did to him." the Magistrate said when convicting Bruce Maxwell Taylor, a signwriter (Mr M. G. L. Loughnan) on a ebarge of assaulting David Nlblett on November 19. He was fined 315.

The complainant gave evidence that the defendant had struck him in the Olympia Billiards Saloon. He suffered a bleeding nose, broken tooth and cut lip. The Magistrate said it was clear the complainant was on his own and was unlikely to provoke the defendant. ASSAULTED WIFE

Robert John Edwards, aged 31. a process worker, was convicted and fined *lO on a charge

| of assaulting his wife. Sherry , Edwards, on February 19. He pleaded guilty. ! Sergeant Davidson said the i defendant arrived home about I 7.50 p.m. and struck his wife ' about the face with his hand. - He told the police he thought his wife had been going with , another man. COSTS ONLY R. Buchanan and Sons, Ltd, ' ironfounders (Mr G. T. Mahon), : was convicted and ordered to pay costs only when the company pleaded guilty to a charge • of carrying on the business of I a secondhand dealer without a licence between October 1 and February 14. Mr Mahon said the company had been buying scrap metal for its foundry for many years and had never considered itself as a scrap-metal dealer. The company did. however, come within the definition of the act. ASSAULT Stanley William Barton, aged 20. a factory worker (Mr M. J. Glue), waa convicted and fined 315 on a charge of assaulting Douglas Stuart on December 26. He pleaded not guilty. The Magistrate said the incident did not involve a serious assault. TOOK SHIRTS Seeing two sports shirts and a tablecloth, on a neighbour’s clothesline, Mark Valentine Watkins, aged 18, a factory hand, climbed over the fence and took them. Watkins, who pleaded guilty to a charge of theft on February 19, said he was short of clothes and took the articles on the spur of the moment. He was remanded for a probation officer's report and sentence on February 28. STOLE AT WORK April Frances Boyle, aged 17, unemployed, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of *l5 on February 18. Senior-Sergeant M. A. Stevenson said she bad taken the money from a workmate's purse. She wanted to pay the money back and said she was depressed at the time because of domestic trouble. Bovle was convicted and remanded to February 28 for a probation officer's report and sentence. FINED *25 On a charge of being the owner of a dog which attacked a person in Goldsmith Street on November 26. Barry Norman Surton was convicted and fined 325. He was ordered to keep the dog under proper control. TRAFFIC OFFENCES In police traffic prosecutions convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows, with costs of 35 in each case. Failed to stop after accident: Raymond John Wallace, *75, disqualified for one year (careless use of motor vehicle, (15, failed to ascertain if person Injured, costs only). Careless use of motor vehicle: Paul Alexander Sinclair, 315, disqualified for three months (no driver's licence, *l5. disqualified for one month); David James Closey, *2O and ordered to attend three traffic lectures. Failed to give way to the right: Daniel Smith Ross, *l5: Anders Steenild Ahnfeldt, *2O. disqualified for one month: Alan Aspinall, 310; Edward Peter Webber, *2O. Failed to report damage: James McLennan Manuel, 35. Failed to stop at sign: Frederick Richard Reed, costs only. LIQUOR OFFENCES In prosecutions under the Sale of Liquor Act convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows, with costs of 35 in each Minor found in bar: Martin Lee Choma, *10; Ewan Roderick Percy Dennis, *lO (false particulars, *l5). (Before Mr W. F. Brown, S.M.) FENCING ACTION The Magistrate reserved his decision to March 6 in an action brought under the Fencing Act, 1908. by Helen Knight, a widow, of 5 Arawa Street (Mr J. R. Milligan) against Michael Lomas, a motor service adviser, of 7 Arawa Street.

Lomas, who conducted his own case, pleaded not guilty to planting a row of trees alongside the boundary of bis and Mrs Knight’s property, without the written consent of occupiers of the adjoining property. Mr Milligan said that although the act provided for a maximum fine of 340 for a conviction on the charge, he was not asking for an imposition of a fine. He quoted a case in the Court of Appeal in 1921, which decided that a conviction gave the informant the right under another section of the Fencing Act to enter on the defendant's property and cut the trees down.

It was with this decision in mind that the action had been brought. Mrs Knight gave evidence that she had an undivided half share with Mrs I. Piper of the property at 5 Arawa Street, on which two joint ownership flats were built.

She said that in June last year Lomas had planted a row of poplar saplings on the boundary, beside a double garage on her property. The trees did not run alongside her half of the garage, but she was concerned that the poplar's roots would spread, and erumble the foundations, which would affect her half.

Lomas admitted having planted the trees, and not having obtained written permission. He said they had been planted to form a screen from five upstairs windows of a nearby boarding bouse, for the sake of privacy. He said that the trees would prevent the busiest part of his house from being exposed.

"I do not feel that the Fencing Act was designed to deprive a citizen of one of his most precious rights—privacy,” he said.

Lomas said that the row of trees was 22in away from the garage at one end, and 141 n at the other. He said he intended to keep the trees topped at lift, and to keep them trimmed up to the height of the garage, which had been built fin from the boundary line. He said the only possible Inconvenience the trees might cause was the shedding of leaves in autumn, but that be had offered to cover the guttering of the garage with wire netting. He did not agree that the roots of poplar trees would “ever move a reinforced conCrete building of that nature.” “It strikes me that the bringing of an action like this lies not in the normal process of law, but entirely at the whim of one's neighbour,” said Lomas. 1 He said that the other tenant at 5 Arawa Street, Mrs Piper, bad not objected to the trees, and had not wished to be involved in the dispute in any way. He said the action was "entirely malicious and was more against trees than any concern for the Fencing Act.” CONSTRUCTION ACT BREACHES "In any future prosecutions under these regulations—and I hope there will not be any—substantial Ones will be imposed," said the Magistrate, convicting the Fletcher Construction Company, Ltd, of three charges brought under the Construction Amendment Act, 1968, and fining the flrm a total of *7O.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to have a worknlg platform more than 10ft high (a frame scaffold) securely fitted with a guard-rail or alternative protection: falling to observe the factor of safety against overturning of a freestanding, light-duty scaffolding which exceeded 10ft in height: and failing to ensure that a working platform of a height

greater than three times the extreme positions of support, was held against overturning sideways. Prosecuting for the Department of Labour, Mr D. G. Rumpit said the charges arose from a safety inspector's visit to a site on the corner of Pages Road and Cuffs Road on December 20, where the defendant company was building a hotel. They were the first prosecutions brought under the amended Construction Act, which now allowed for a maximum fine of 3500. Under the former regulations, the maximum fine was *5O. INSECURE JOISTS Charged under the Christ, church City Council’s by-laws, the Tennant Construction Company pleaded guilty to falling to fix securely floor joists in a building, and was convicted and fined *l5. For the company. Mr J. W. Dalmer said that the company was one of a group of builders putting up houses for a big development concern. It had not realised that by driving only one nail into joists it was breaching good building practice, and that the joists should have been secured by nails from either side. The offence was carelessness rather than a deliberate attempt to shirk responsibility. Mr G. R. Lascelles appeared for the City Council. TUNNEL OFFENCES In prosecutions brought by the Lyttelton Road Tunnel Authority (Mr P. C. Champion), convictions were entered and fines Imposed as follows, with solicitor's fee of 36.39 and Court costs of *5 in each case:— Failed to pay toll: Warren Victor Healy. *lO. Overtook on no-passing lines: William Francis Hollis. *l2 (licence cancelled for three months). Overwidth vehicle: Patrick Norman, *B. Overtook in tunnel: Rendicrus Mario van Venrooy, 32.

MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES In prosecutions brought by Government departments (Mr C. A. McVeigh), convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows, with solicitor’s fee 36.90 and Court costs of 35 in each case: Failed to furnish return of income: Colin Timothy Willoughby Chamberlain. S 4; Roland Leslie Duncan, 34; Aart van der Jagt, 34; New Zealand Enterprises. Ltd, *6; Kathleen Ellen Watts, 34 on first charge. 35 and 36 on two other charges (solicitor’s fee 33.15 on each of two latter charges). Unlicensed television set: Wilke Campbell, 34; John Robert Gowans, 32; Terrence Patrick Hickey, 84. UNREGISTERED DOG In a prosecution brought by the Paparua County Council (Mr J. R Miligan), K. Jennings, of 125 Halswell Junction Road, was convicted and fined 32 for keeping an unregistered dog. Payment of a solicitor's tee of 86.30, and Court costs of 85 was also ordered. Jennings, who pleaded guilty by letter, said he could not afford to register the dog.

CHARGES ADJOURNED Three charges brought under the Medical Advertisement Regulations against E. W. Hall and Sons. Ltd. herbalists, were adjourned. The firm (Mr R. B. T. Leete) was charged that in the August and September edition of the magazine, "Soil and Health,” it was responsible tor three advertisements which contravened the regulations. One advertisement is alleged to have suggested that a certain medical treatment would alleviate gastric and duodenal ulcers. Another is said to have contained a suggestion that a mixture would alleviate disorders of the kidney and bladder. The third charge relates to an

advertisement allegedly tnvit? ing correspondence from members of the public for the purpose of diagnosing an illness. (Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M.) DROVE WHILE DISQUALIFIED Kevin Warren McFarlane, aged 17. a workman, pleaded guilty to charges that on February 8 he rode a motor-cycle in Buckleys Road and in Hereford Street while disqualified. On both charges, he was remanded on bail to February 27 for a probation report and sentence. Traffic Sergeant H. J. McMorran appeared for the Christchurch City Council traffic department. Donald Frederick Hyett, aged 55, a workman, was convicted and fined $l5O, and disqualified for a further year, when charged with driving on Dunbars and Halswell Roads on February 12 while disqualified. TRAFFIC CHARGES In other prosecutions brought by the City Council traffic department, convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows, with Court costs of $5 on each charge:— Careless use: lan Francis Burdon, $2O.

No rear red light on goodsservice vehicle: Graeme Donald Peters, $lO. Failed to give way at sign: Alister Ritchie, $l5.

Exceeding 30 miles an hour: Peter Roel Oosterheert, $5 (no warrant of fitness. $1).