MAGISTRATE’S COURT Motor-Cycle Gang Caused $l500 Damage To Flat

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32386, 27 August 1970, Page 12

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Motor-Cycle Gang Caused $l500 Damage To Flat

Four youths appeared in i the Christchurch Magistrate's 1 Court yesterday before Mr K. , H. J. Headifen, S.M., charged i with offences relating to theft ' from and damage to a Dur- ( ham Street flat, used on Aug- ’ ust 11 and August 13 for

meetings of a motor-cycle gang, ttie “Epitaph Riders.” Sergeant V. F. Townshend, who prosecuted for the police, said damage amounting to about $l5OO had been done to the flat. The flat had been occupied by two girls, who had left a few days before the incidents.

Garry Vincent Ashton was fined a total of $lOO when he pleaded guilty to charges of stealing two blankets, valued at $lO, and of wilfully damaging a chair. He told the police he had gone to the flat with other young people and had slashed the chair with a knife. He had been unable to give any explanation for his actions, Sergeant Townshend said. He stole the blankets on his return two days later. He was fined $5O on each charge, and ordered to pay restitution of $25 for the chair. Stephen William Alexander Holliss, aged 20, a timber worker, was fined $5O and ordered to pay restitution of $2O for wilfully damaging the ceiling of the flat. Holliss had gone there with the “Epitaph Riders,” said Sergeant Townshend. Seeing names written on the walls, he decided to write his on the ceiling, and did so with a charred stick. The ceiling required repapering. “It’ll be an expensive evening’s entertainment,” the Magistrate said, imposing the penalty. Another member of the “Epitaph Riders,” Geoffrey Ray Blackburn, aged 21, a welder, was fined $4O for receiving a chest of drawers stolen from the flat. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Townshend said that Blackburn had been given the drawers by Kevin Bernard Murphy, who had carried them out of the flat. When Murphy, aged 17, appeared on a charge of stealing the drawers, he was remanded on bail for one week. No plea was taken. DISTURBANCE AT FAIR Anita Siataga, aged 17, was remanded in custody for a week for probation report and sentence when she pleaded guilty to using obscene language and to wilful damage at Canterbury Court on Saturday evening. Sergeant W. W. Maloney said numerous complaints were received by the police that a girl was running about using bad language and smacking strange boys on the face. She was spoken to by the police and allowed to go. A few minutes later loud screams were heard from an upstairs exhibit, and the defendant ran down the stairs. She was taken by the police to an office. While being spoken to by a woman, she smashed a plate-glass window with her hand. Members of a large crowd which had gathered outside the office were lucky not to be cut by the flying glass, he said. The defendant had been drinking. On a further charge of receiving a transistor radio, knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained, on February 23, she was also remanded. The Magistrate remanded the girl with the condition that she be kept apart from adult prisoners. RUN OVER BY BUS Richard lan Rosewarne, aged 33, a Transport Board bus-driver, was fined $3O and disqualified for six months when he pleaded guilty to careless use of a bus. The charge arose from an accident at the corner of Armagh Street and Manchester Street, when a bus driven by the defandant knocked over a pedestrian who later had part of a leg amputated. Rosewarne’s counsel (Mr A. D. Holland) said that the defendant was unfamiliar with the corner and was using it as the normal route had been changed during the Royal tour. ' OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR John Keeble Gregg was fined $4O when he pleaded guilty to a charge of behaving in an offensive manner in Millers restaurant on August 19. STOLE CHEQUE Brian John Barnes, aged 20, a fish shop assistant, was fined $2O when he pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a cheque for $69.20 on February 26. The defendant had admitted to the police that he had taken the cheque, which was addressed to a person in an adjoining flat to his, and had cashed it at a city store, Sergeant Townshend said. He had repaid the money concerned. TWO CHARGES Michael Kawana, aged 27, a casual labourer, was fined a total of $BO. with restitution, witnesses’ expenses, and Court costs of $42.10, when he pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a vacuum cleaner and kerosene heater from Russell Paul Richardson on August 8, and another charge of obtaining $25.20 from Graeme Monk by false pretences on August 19. Sergeant Maloney said that Kawana had taken the heater and cleaner from a flat owned by the complainant. Kawana, who was the occupier of the flat at the time, was told to leave because of arrears in his rent. Interviewed at Lyttelton by police on August 19, Kawana admitted the theft, and said he had sold the property to a second-hand shop in Christchurch. Earlier on the day of interview, Kawana presented a cheque, signed C. Cooper, to Graeme Monk at the Royal Hotel, Lyttelton. The cheque paid $4.80 for a night’s lodging and Kawana received $25.20 in change. Kawana, when interviewed, told police he was short of money.

The Magistrate said that, because Kawana had appeared in Court only twice since 1963, the last in 1967, he would be left in the community. “However,” the Magistrate said, “I am not prepared to treat this matter lightly and the fines will therefore be severe. Should you not pay them I will have no hesitation in sending you to gaol.” MISCELLANEOUS CASES In miscellaneous police prosecutions, convictions were entered and fines imposed, with $5 Court costs in each case, on the following: Failed to give way: Stephen Osmond Harris, $l5; Beven John McClelland, $10; Kenneth Murray Blakemore, costs, disqualified for three months; Jacoba Marre Weaver, $l5. Failed to give way at sign: Douglas Arthur William English $2O; Clifford Birkin, $2O. Found in bar: Brian Joseph Gillian, $8; Robin Ellice McMillan, $B. Careless use: Dorothy Evelyn Glentworth, $l5. J (Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M.) TRAFFIC OFFENCES In Ministry of Transport traf fic prosecutions convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows, with costs of $5 in each case: Exceeded 30 miles an hour: Jan April Anderson, $10; Gary Raymond Benson, $10; Lindsay Stuart McKinlay, $25; Diane Kennedy, $l5; Kathleen Mary Wright, $l5; Paul Richard Guest, $2O; Terrence Young. $7; Earl James Mcßride, $2O. disqualified for six weeks; Stuart lan Roberts, $l5 (no safety helmet, $3); Stuart Douglas Russell, $2O; Bryan Robert Verey, $10; Peter Gilbert Edwards, $8; William Charles Grigor, $l5, Leonard Aldridge, $l2 (no warrant of fitness, $7); James John Allison, $l2; Dzintars Apse, $25; Elaine Ruth Bennett. $2O; lan Bradbury, $10; Michael James Davidson, $25; Philip Ducker, $lO (failed to produce licence, $5); Colleen Lillian Eichbaum, $l2; Lyn Barbara Fenlick, $10: Stuart William Francis. $5: Albert Leslie Gray, $10; Henry Elwyn Griffiths, $2O; Barry John Guest, $l2; Clive lan Harris, $10; Fay Evelyne Irene Harris. $25; Daniel John Heaney, $l5; Brent Hinkley, $l2; Fairlie Dorothea Horsley. $10; Russell Alexander Kennedy, $10; Pauline Lee, $10; Desmond Thomas McCammon, $10; Anthony Martin, $2O; Gilbert George Mooar, $2O; Brent Vernon John Moore, $10: Alwyn Munday, $l5: Beverley Margaret O’Brien, $25; John Desmond O’Neill, $2O; John James O’Sullivan, $25: John Sydney James Overend, S 10; Athol Leslie Parker, $3O; Patricia Lynn Parker, $l2; William Louden Parker, $l2; Leslie Garden Paterson, $10; Murray William Sidaway, $25; Michael David Trewhitt, $10; Charles Alfred Walker, $l2; Paul Henry Woods, $l2; Carole Christina Worley, $l2; John Young, $lO. Vehicle dangerously loaded: Neville John Smith, $25. No rear red reflectors: Paul Richard Rea, $5. Careless use: Paul Francis Luxmore, $l5; Basil Guy Timaru Quaiffe, $2O (disqualified for six weeks). Wrongly adjusted headlights: John Wilkinson, $5. Registration plates not affixed: Joseph Howard. $5 (no warrant of fitness, $2). No driver’s licence: Rita Catharine Simmonds, $5. Worn tyres: Keith Rossmore Dawson, $lO (no warrant of fitness, $10); Terrence John Williams, $lO. Failed to report accident: Geoffrey Kent Bell, $2O. Failed to keep to the left: Stephen James Taylor, $7. Exceeded 40 miles an hour with trailer: Robert George Kinley, $10; Harold Albert Stevens. $l2. Exceeded heavy traffic licence: J. C. Haworth and Sons Ltd, $lO. No effective rear vision mirror: Eric Morrison, $7; Marilyn Janet Frampton, $7. Failed to comply with traffic lights: Michael Alfred Suter, $6; Albert Laverack, $25. Failed to display L sign: Diane McMillan, $5. Failed to stop at stop sign: Francis Lawrence Graham, $10; Alison Helen Cross, $5; Ivan Douglas Cross, $5; Keith Alfred Linwood, $7; Roland Henry Denton, $5; Michael Francis Gill, $5; Robert Ivan Palmer, $5; Vivian Stephen White. $7. Failed to dip lights: Randolph Haffenden, $5; Peter Eric Winslade, $lO. Exceeded 30 miles an hour without safety helmet: Graeme Carvel Hormann, $3 (no warrant of fitness, $2). Exceeded 50 miles an hour as a probationary driver: Wayne Anthony Gilbert Busch, $2O, disqualified for one month. Exceeded 45 miles an hour with pillion passenger: Stephen Peter Norman Kersey, $3; Geoffrey James Donkin, $3; Alan John Muggeridge, $3. Exceeded 60 miles an hour: Arthur Miles Smith, $l5: John 'Windham Gray, $3O; John McDonald, $4O; Peter Cedric Noonan, $l5 (exceeded 45 miles an , hour with pillion passenger, $5); Neile Morgan Pitches, $l5. Insufficient lights: Kerry John Black, $7; Daniel Clifford Thomson, $lO. Excessive alcohol concentration: Charles Dennis Nolan, $6O, 1 disqualified for nine months J from September 9: Robert Hall, $lOO, disqualified for two years. Dangerous driving: Christo- I pher Thomas Adamson, $25, dis- I qualified for one year. (Before Mr P. L. Molineaux, ' S.M.) NAME SUPPRESSED A man whose name was suppressed and who was described | as not fully responsible for his , actions, was committed to Sunnyside Hospital when he appeared for sentence on two charges of indecent assault and one of assault, all involving women. The man was represented by Mr K. N. Hampton.