Man Wounded During Burglary

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32381, 21 August 1970, Page 26

Man Wounded During Burglary

(New Zealand Press Association; DUNEDIN, August 20. A 25-year-old sheet metal worker who was disturbed while searching a refrigerator in a cafe for food at 4 a.m. today and shot in the right leg while making his escape appeared in the Magistrate’s Court before Mr J. D. Murray, SAI., today and pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary.

Falevalu Seuseu, represented by Mr J. B. Robertson, was convicted of breaking and entering the premises of the Shanghai Cafe with intent to commit a crime early this morning and was remanded in custody for a probation

officer’s report and sentence. Seuseu who was treated for the gunshot wound after he was apprehended by the police appeared in Court barefooted and limping slightly.

Sergeant A. J. Murray said the police had received a telephone call at 4 a.m. today to the effect that the owner of the Shanghai Cafe had disturbed an intruder. The complainant told the police that he heard a noise and he and his wife and son went downstairs to investigate. His wife armed herself with a stick and he was carrying a .22 rifle. He turned on the light in the kitchen and saw a man standing in front of the open refrigerator. He came towards them, saying “sorry sorry.”

The complainant asked his son to telephone the police and when this had been done the intruder pushed aside the complainant’s wife and went towards a broken window. He was told by the complainant to stop but went out the window and ran across the yard. The complainant then fired a shot at the man. The man, Seuseu, had disappeared by the time the police arrived. Inquiries resulted in his apprehension and he admitted entering the premises. He said he was hungry and had been looking for food. He had a gunshot wound in his right upper leg and was treated at the Dunedin Public Hospital. Mr Robertson, requesting bail, said Seuseu was suffering from a severe gunshot wound. The request was declined by the Magistrate. “I take it the police are looking into this question of] a firearm,” the Magistrate, said to Sergeant Murray.