MAGISTRATE’S COURT Two Women Sentenced For Theft From Shops And Receiving

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32252, 21 March 1970, Page 14

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Two Women Sentenced For Theft From Shops And Receiving

A woman who appeared on 22 charges of theft from shops, involving goods worth a total of $700; and her aunt, who faced 17 charges of receiving stolen goods from her, were sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to pay a total of $358 in costs and restitution by Mr H. J. Evans, S.M., in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The property stolen included children’s clothing, a binocular, cutlery, two chain saws, and an electric organ. They were Irene Dianne May Woods, aged 22 (Mr D. H. P. Dawson), and Doreen Myrtle Fraser, aged 28 (Mr P. H. T. Alpers). Both had previously pleaded guilty. For Woods, Mr Dawson said she had been led into the series of shopliftings. She was not a strong person and had trouble maintaining a separate personality. Mrs Fraser, said Mr Alper, was not the ringleader, although she had benefited substantially from the offences. He submitted that she had nol been in trouble for seven years, and could be suitably punished by something less than imprisonment. “My first reaction was that prison only could be considered in this case,” the Magistrate told the defendants. “The whole question of sending two young women to prison has given me a great deal of concern, and I have decided T would be justified in imposing terms of probation.”

They were ordered to pay $4O towards the cost of prosecution, $5 costs on each charge, and Fraser was ordered to pay $B3 in restitution for unrecovered goods.

ESCAPED, RETURNED Michael Rori Vincent, aged 18, an electrician's labourer, escaped from Addington Prison on Wednesday night, went to town to see a young woman, and returned at 3 d.m. on a converted bicycle, but had con« siderable difficulty in convinc* ing the gate-keeper that he was an inmate and not a visitor, the Magistrate was told. Mr C. A. McVeigh, for Vincent, said that while awaiting sentence on charges of unlawfully getting into, and interfering with cars, Vincent had heard that the young woman was in some sort of trouble. He had returned and given himself up, although he could have got in by the same way he had used to leave. At the gate, the officer had told him to go away, thinking he was “some sort of visitor,” but had let him in, "understandably enough," when Vincent persisted. Vincent was sentenced to Borstal training on the charge of escaping and convicted and dis-

charged for taking the bicyclje. Sergeant V. F. Townshend said Vincent had escaped by removing a window frame and climbing down some knotted sheets. The bicycle he returned on was taken from next door to the woman’s place.

NINE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT Rodney George Beechey, aged 23, an unemployed salesman, was sentenced to nine mohths imprisonment when he ap« peared on a charge of theft and two of false pretences. Mr G. K. Panckhurst, for Beechey, said the offences were committed out of desperation. He was unemployed and in serious financial difficulties. Imprisonment might have the effect of hardening him from social irresponsibility to a criminal state of mind.

“If ever it was made clear to you that dishonesty would not be tolerated it was when you appeared here last month on 24 charges of a similar nature,” the Magistrate told Beechey. THREE MONTHS FOR ESCAPE

“1 am of the opinion that the legislature does not contemplate that a prisoner placed on penal grade for a breach of prison regulations is entitled to a lighter sentence from the Court," said the Magistrate when Michael Patrick George Bennett, aged 31, appeared for sentence on a charge of attempting to escape from Paparua Prison on November 8. He received an additional three months imprisonment. Bennett had successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against a sentence of six months imprisonment for the offence and had made written submissions to the Court concerning various penalties imposed on him by the prison authorities after his attempted escape. “I can’t direct the superintendent what to do, but I am of the opinion that your penal grade status will end now that you have been finally sentenced,” the Magistrate told Bennett.

INDECENT ACT CHARGE William George Borlase, aged 21, a female impersonator (Mr M. J. Glue), was remanded on bail to March 26 on a charge of permitting Bryan John Register to do an indecent act upon him at Lyttelton on March 20. No plea was entered, but Mr Glue said that Borlase would

probably be defended on scientific grounds. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR Dennis Francis Willis, aged 20, a television serviceman, was fined $2O when he pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly behaviour on March 19 in Cathedral Square. Sergeant W. W. Moloney said that at 10.35 p.m. on Thursday Willis hindered a constable who was warning a driver about a traffic breach. Willis then obstructed two female pedestrians by standing in front of them and pestering them. Willis had been drinking but was not drunk, said Sergeant Moloney. THREE CHARGES Bryan John Register, aged 22, a seaman, was fined $lO when he pleaded guilty to a charge of driving after being given a notice in writing by a constable not to use the vehicle on the road. On , a charge of operating a car with no warrant of fitness. Register was ordered to pay Court costs only. Register pleaded not guilty to a charge of doing an indecent act upon another male, William George Borlase. He was remanded on bail to April 15. The three charge arose from incidents which occurred on March 20 at Lyttelton. FORGERY CHARGES Stuart McKay Campbell, aged 17, a storeman, was remanded on bail to March 26 for a probation report and sentence when he pleaded guilty to two charges of forgery and two of false pretences. Sergeant Maloney said that Campbell stole a cheque book from his married brother whom he was living with at the time. On February 8 Campbell used one of the cheques to buy petrol worth $1 at the Midway Service Station and received $l4 in change, said Sergeant Maloney. On February 18 Campbell cashed a cheque for $2O at Blake's Foodmarket. When interviewed, Campbell admitted the charges and said that he had committed the offences on the spur of the moment, said Sergeant Maloney. PROBATION BREACHES Geoffrey Lawrence Richards, aged 33, a labourer, pleaded guilty and was fined $lO when he appeared on a charge of failing to report on probation at Dunedin on October 9. Mr

K. Birss, of the Probation Department, said Richards had given himself up in Christchurch.

Peter Thomas Darby, aged 20, a timber worker, was fined $2O when he pleaded guilty to a charge of falling to report while on probation. Norman William Cole, aged 48, unemployed, was released on probation for 12 months when he pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to notify the probation service of a change of his address. LICENSING BREACHES Minor found in public bar: Ewan Roderick Percy Dennis, $10; Bruce Thomas Anson Wright, $7 (supplied liquor to a minor, $7, gave false particulars, $10). TRAFFIC CHARGES On traffic charges brought by the police, convictions were entered and fines imposed, with Court costs $5 in each case, as follows:Failed to comply with traffic lights: Donald Norman Walter Bright, $l2. Failed to stop at stop sign: Henry Frederick Thomson. $6; Daniel Millward Oldham, $l5. Failed to yield right of way: Robert Alexander Calder, $2O; David Roy Lumley, $2O. Careless use of motor Vehicle: Brent Patrick Bartholomew, $2O, and ordered to undergo a new driving test; David Leslie Mcllroy, $2O, and disqualified from driving for three months. Drove car at speed at which she was unable to stop within half the clear roadway: Prudence Buttery, $l2. DISMISSED A charge of delivering possession of an air rifle to an unauthorised person, against lan Robert Stevenson, was dismissed. The Magistrate accepted Mr D. H. P. Dawson’s submission that the charge must fail because the recipient of the rifle, who was the defendant's son, had obtained it without the defendant's knowledge. BORSTAL Robert Potou Ngaru, aged 19. a builder’s labourer, was sentenced to Borstal training when he appeared on charges of unlawfully interfering with, and eetting into, cars at Christchurch and Lumsden. on February 27. (Before Mr P L. Molineaux, S.M.) EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL Richard Lee Foster, a seaman (Mr J. G. Leggat), was convicted and fined $lOO and disqualified from driving for 18 months from April 3 when he pleaded guilty to a charge of driving in Riccarton Road on October 4 while the concentration of alcohol in his blood exceeded 100 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. Mr N. W. Williamson, who appeared for the Police Department. said the defendant's car struck a pole in Ham Road about 7.55 p.m. The defendant was later stopped bv a traffic officer in Riccarton Road. On analysis, the defendant's blood was found to have a concentration of 220 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood ADJOURNED A charge against Lihue Jasper, a seaman (Mr J. G. Leggat), of carelessly using a motor vehicle in Memorial Avenue on July II was adiourned until April 3. Mr N. W. Williamson, who appeared for the Police Department, said he sought the adjournment so that an application for a stay of prosecution could be filed. DETENTION Arthur Murdock Mclver, aged 33, a mechanic (Mr J. E. Butler), was sentenced to periodic detention for four months on a charge of driving while disqualified on January 29, having previously been convicted of driving while disqualified. He was disqualified for one year, the period being concurrent with a period of disqualification effective until 1983.