MAGISTRATE’S COURT Man Sentenced To Year’s Gaol On Three Charges

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31986, 13 May 1969, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Man Sentenced To Year’s Gaol On Three Charges

A man who was taken to the police station by a taxidriver after he could not pay the fare then offered to pay the driver with a camera, which was found to have been stolen earlier in the day, Mr H. J. Evans, S.M., was told in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. Appearing on charges of burglary, breach of probation and failing to pay a taxi fare, was John Lawrence King!, aged 34, an unemployed shearer. He pleaded guilty to all charges. Imposing a sentence of 12 months imprisonment, the Magistrate said he could see no alternative to gaol. He ordered the accused make restitution of $4.50 for the unpaid fare. Sergeant G. F. Davidson said the accused had telephoned a taxi to pick him up at an address in Lower Styx Road about noon on May 1. He directed the driver to several addresses in Christchurch in efforts to sell some property so he could pay the taxi driver. After covering several miles, the accused having incurred a fare of $4.50, the taxi driver drove Kingi to the police station. The accused then offered to pay the taxi driver with a Camera he had been trying to sell. However, this was found to have been stolen earlier in the day by the ac-

cused from a house in Lower Styx Road, said Sergeant Davidson. The camera and other articles which had been stolen belonged to Dorothy Marie Richards. For the accused, Mr E. T. Higgins said the breach of probation charge had been laid on March 7 when Kingi failed to report as required. The accused had decided to go shearing and for some reason had not bothered to tell the probation officer, said Mr Higgins. Mr Higgins said that except for the camera the property Stolen was not of great value. The offence was serious, however, because the accused had appeared for offences of this nature before. / s THREE MONTHS GAOL Stewart James Todd, aged 32, a barman (Mr J. G. Leggat), was sentenced to tbree months imprisonment when he appear* ed for sentence on a charge of driving while disqualified, and the cancellation of hi 9 driver's licence was extended until May 16, 1974. An appeal has been lodged against this sentence in the Supreme Court. Todd was granted bail.

Todd was fined $2O on a charge of supplying false information to a traffic officer and $l5 on a charge of exceeding 30 miles an hour. Mr Leggat said that the probation officer’s report was very favourable to Todd. His driving had been caused by the worry of losing his wallet, and he had returned to work to try to find it. This was an isolated breach of driving while disqualified. Todd had managed to achieve a good deal of stability in his life.

“1 am unable to avoid the conclusion that it is the duty of the Court to impose a sentence of imprisonment,” the Magistrate said. "I must take into account the previous convictions.”

REMANDED IN CUSTODY Allan Richard Fox, aged 17. unemployed, was remanded in custody to Thursday afternoon for a medical examination to see if he is fit to undergo detention centre training, the sentence proposed by the Magistrate. He was appearing for sentence on charges of receiving goods stolen from the Hope Store at Hope on April 23, unlawfully getting into a car in Hastings on December 30, and stealing two gallons of petrol from Mr M. D. Prebble on April 23. For Fox, Mr J. E. Butler said bad company and alcohol had played a part in the offences. Most of the trouble he had been In had been when he was away from the supervision of his parents. If allowed to stay in the community on probation he planned to return home to his parents. The Magistrate ordered that Fox pay $100.90 restitution for damage he did to the car he got into. Stephen Walter Norgate, aged 17, unemployed, and David Gordon Low, aged 18. an unemployed freezing worker, also appeared for sentence with Fox on a joint charge of stealing the petrol on April 23. Norgate, who was released on probation last week for three years for burglary, was ordered to continue this on -the same terms, without any further penalty being imposed. Low was further remanded in custody until tomorrow when he is to appear for sentence on a charge of burglary. $3O FINE Lindsay John Clarke, aged 22, a garage hand (Mr J. M. Wilson), was fined $3O when he appeared for sentence on a charge of driving while disqualified, and the period of disqualification was extended to November, 1971. He pleaded guilty to the charge, laid after he jvas stopped by a traffic officer in Madras Street on April 6. The accused said he had fallen over and hurt his arm and was driving to the hospital to have it attended to. After hearing evidence as to the accused’s actions before the offence occurred, the Magistrate said there “was a reasonable possibility that his explanation was correct. He said he had had it in mind to send the accused to prison, but he would not now do this. FINED $2O ‘•l’m very unhappy about these U turns— they’re potentially very dangerous,” the Magistrate told Harold Sykes Kinder, aged 49, a company representative (Mr R. L. Kerr), who appeared on a charge, of driving carelessly. The defendant, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted and fined $2O. Evidence was given that a bus collided with the defendant's car when, he turned round in front of it in Pages Road on February 27. The bus driver. Bernard Taplin Cane, said the car started the turn when he was only a short distance away. REMANDED Maurice Frederick James Smither, aged 19, unemployed, tfas remanded until tomorrow to enable him to obtain legal aid when he appeared for sentenc on a charge of wilfully setting fire to straw belonging to Hugh Wilson on April 30. (Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M.)

TWO CHARGES ADMITTED A man who was involved in an accident with a traffic officer in North Avon Road on April 24 S leaded guilty to a charge of riving under the influence of drink or drugs and a charge of failing to ascertain whether anyone was injured. Michael John Harris, aged 33, a fruiterer (Mr E. T. Higgins), was convicted and remanded on bail to May 19. Prison might be the only appropriate penalty, the Magistrate said. Detective Sergeant B. J. Preston said that Harris collided with the motor-cycle of a traffic officer who was about to make a turn. He drove off, but was st6pped by another traffic officer who chased him. Harris at first denied the accident but later said he had driven off because the traffic officer did not come over to him. Harris smelt of liquor, and at the police station was certified as unfit to drive. The traffic officer suffered only minor injuries. Mr Higgins submitted it was not a case for a prison sentence. Harris said he had got out~ of his car after feeling a bump but had seen nothing. He knew there had been some sort of accident and had been driving to a telephone box to ring the police. Because of the offence he would have to change his job.

FINED FOR THEFT Miles Humphrey Ruhe, aged 23, a factory worker (Mr G. R. Lascelles), pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of $l5 and was convicted and fined 120. Ruhe had been given the money to pay a telephone iccount for another person, but

had instead used it to pay his 11 rent, Detective Sergeant Pres- r ton said. k ASSAULTED WIFE j Pleading guilty to a charge of , assaulting his wife on May 10. Robert Warner Richardson, aged 32, a fisherman, was convicted and fined $4O. i Detective Sergeant Preston i said that Mrs Richardson had i been holding a baby at the time i and could not defend herself, i The accused pushed her across ; a bed and a push-chair, and twice hit her in the face. ESCAPED FROM HOSTEL Maurice Rangi, aged 28, pleaded guilty to a charge of escaping from the Opawa prerelease hostel on May 10 and was convicted and remanded to May 20. Detective Sergeant Preston said that Rangi’s leave expired at 11.30 p.m. He returned to the hostel, made up his bed to look as if he was in it, and then went out again. When he returned at 3 a.m. he was arrested. Rangi told the Court that he went out for a meal, but his plan to get back urinoticed ‘‘came unstuck.” Karlis Wilson, aged 26. pleaded guilty to a similar i charge arising from the same circumstances, and was also convicted and remanded to i May 20. PROBATION Paul Graeme Smith, aged 17. a woolstore worker, was placed on probation for two years , when he appeared for sentence on a charge of resisting a con- . stable on May 3 and a charge , of assaulting a constable on the . same date. , After Smith had been at a j detention centre last year his , attitude had improved, the ! Magistrate said, but the im , provement had not been mainI tained. “But for the state of I your health, Borstal would be an appropriate penalty.” . Smith was ordered to take r treatment as directed, and the . Magistrate warned him that if j he misbehaved he could expect ! to be brought back before the - Court.

FINED AND DISQUALIFIED Edward Morgan Thomas, aged 18. was fined $lOO and his driver's licence was cancelled for two years on a charge of driving in a manner which might have been dangerous and $lO on a charge of having no driver’s licence. He pleaded guilty. Detective Sergeant Preston said that at 9.40 p.m. on January 29 an off-duty constable was a passenger in a car being driven west in Blenheim Road. At the Matipo Street intersection a car driven by Thomas overtook that in which the con stable was a passenger and cut in front of it. The second vehicle had to swerve and brake severely to avoid a collision.

Thomas then drove his car across both lanes, cutting off other vehicles a-nd forcing them to the side of the road and against the median strip. Thomas then cut in front of the car in which the constable was a passenger, forcing it into the gutter and nearly on to the footpath. Thomas continued to drive in this manner for the length of Blenheim Road. At the roundabout at the .Main South Road the car in which the constable was travelling drew alongside Thomas’s vehicle and the constable spoke to Thomas, telling him that he was a constable and to stop. Thfee requests were made and , they were ignored. Thomas tried to force the other vehicle to the side of the road three times. On the Sockburn overhead bridge Thomas’s car made a U.-turn Tn the face of oncoming traffic and headed back towards the city. When interviewed, Thomas said that he had recognised the constable and that his actions were deliberate. Thomas had previous convictions, Detective Sergeant Preston said. SUSPENDED SENTENCE

Thomas Henry Manawatu, aged 41, a dairy hand, was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence within one year if called upon on a charge of unlawfully getting into a ear valued at $250, the property of Roy Baker, at Lyttelton, on May 9. Manawatu pleaded guilty. Detective Sergeant Preston said that after Manawatu left the Lyttelton police station on the evening of May 9 he was seen trying the doors of two cars parked in London Street. He then went into the Empire Hqtel and after returning to London Street a few minutes later got into the driver’s seat of Mr Baker’s car. Manawatu had been drinking, but was not drunk.

Mr E. T. Higgins, for the accused. said that Manawatu had come from the North Island to a wedding at 'Rapaki. He had a rental car but because he had had too much to drink he could not remember the offence. He was a well-thought-of member of the Maori community. OVERSTAYED PERMIT Vijay Kumar, aged 29, a Fijian Indian fan assembler, was fined $4O. and an order was made that he be deported, after he had pleaded guilty to a charge of slaying in New Zealand beyond his permit. Mr C. H. McVeigh, who prosecuted. said that Kumar entered New Zealand on June 2Q, 1903, on a three months permit and had remained here ever since. Mr D. M. Palmer, for the accused, said that Kumar was working for a city engineering firm. He was married, with one child.

Kumar was granted bail, pending deportation. Deo Surj, alias Dev Pillay Suyra, aged 28, a Fijian Indian stone worker, was similarly sentenced on a charge of overstaying his permit. He pleaded guilty and was represented by Mr R. L. Kerr.

Mr McVeigh said that Surj arrived in New Zealand on March 17, 1964, on a three months permit and had not left the country. Mr Kerr said that as so often happened in such a case it was Surj’s family, which had to remain in New Zealand, which would suffer the most. In September he had married a woman with whom he had been living for some time. They had one child and were expecting another. Surj’s application to remain in New Zealand had been declined. He had been a good worker and citizen while living in New Zealand. “You should have thought of your responsibilities and realised that you were not free to marry and remain in New Zealand without permission,” the Magistrate said.

Surj was granted bail, pend ing deportation.

NAME SUPPRESSED Pleading guilty to charges of burglary, theft and possessing a revolver not registered in his name, a man, whose name was suppressed (Mr G. R. Lascelles), was remanded on bail to May 20 for sentence.

Detective Sergeant Preston said that on April 25 the police searched the man’s house and found a pistol, a revolver and other property worth $4O, including a heater, a binocular, a camera and a dagger and sheath. The man admitted stealing the pistol from a display case in the Canterbury Museum on or about April 26, 1966. He said that the revolver had been given to him by a relative about six years ago.

[The relative, however, had de-1 nied this. The accused also admitted taking the other property from a vacant house at Pigeon Bay between January 1, 1963, and December 31. 1963. DROVE UNDER INFLUENCE Vincent John Wright, aged 41, a contractor, was fined $l2O and disqualified from driving for three years when he appeared on a charge of driving under the influence of drink or drugs in Blenheim Road on May 9. He pleaded guilty. Detective Sergeant Preston I said that while turning round i in Blenheim Road about 10.25' p.m.. on May 9, Wright swung i into the path of an oncoming car, which had to brake. Wright then swung left into Curletts Road, crossing to the wrong side of the road. A traffic offi cer stopped Wright and asked him to get out of his car. . He had been drinking and-was un- , steady on his feet. He was , taken to the police station and . was certified by a doctor asunfit to drive. DANGEROUS MANNER > A youth, who drove his car I across the lawn in front of a ! house in Pine Avenue, South . Brighton, on February 19, nar-1 ' rowly missing a baby in a pram. ? was convicted and fined 840 and > disqualified from driving for > one year, on a charge of driv- j ing in a manner which might have been dangerous. Wayne John Kiesanowski. aged j 19, unemployed, pleaded guilty. . Sergeant V. F. Townshend ’ said that about 2 p.m. on Feb ; ruary 19 the complainant was . in her house looking out a win- ; dow when she saw a car come up the entrance to her drive, j cross the path and then cross s the lawn close to where her 3 baby was lying in a pram. After . the car had gone she took the . baby inside. The car then came, f back and repeated the man- » Guvre. As the car drove straight past the house on the third 5 visit she wrote down the num-! ? ber. f' THEFT t! A girl, whose name was sup-; ? pressed, was remanded on bail! to May 20 for sentence when she appeared on a charge of a theft of an electric jug, a kettle and a tin of cakes, worth a total j r of $17.50, from a Worcester! . Street house on May 10. She t pleaded guilty. D Detective Sergeant Preston . said that on May 10 the girl left her flat and went into the house next door where she took . a kettle. She returned to her e flat, but then went back to the [i house and stole an electric jug and a tin of cakes. When the police arrived at the s flat the girl was found hiding . under her bed. The stolen t articles were found hidden in d different places. e The girl said that she wanted a cup of coffee and had no way r of heating water in her flat. She I said she would not have taken n the goods if she had been 3 sober. OBSCENE LANGUAGE For using obscene language * s in Cathedral Square on May 11 e Frederick Llewellyn Williams’ ‘ aged 19, an unemployed farmhand, was convicted and fined . $4O. He pleaded guilty. . Detective Sergeant Preston . said that about 1.45 p.m. on May 11 Williams was among a group of youths outside the post office t in Cathedral Square. When the g youths were asked; to move on, e Williams used thepanguage. s DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR e Pleading guilty to a charge e of disorderly, behaf iour in Heref ford Street on May 11. Anthony e Robert Holbrough, aged 21, an e was convicted and d Detective Sergeant Preston said that Holbrough was drunk s when he kicked over a rubbish tin in Hereford Street, spilling s the contents over the footpath s and gutter. TRAFFIC CASES In traffic cases brought by the police convictions were en- • tered and penalties imposed as n follows with costs of $5 in each case: Failed to give way: B. R. r Dodge. $l5, disqualified for f three months. y Overtook vehicle stopped to give way at pedestrian crossn ing: W. J. Keir, $2O. t Careless driving: G. A. E. n Scott, $l5.