Supreme Court Appeal against prison term dismissed

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 9

Supreme Court Appeal against prison term dismissed

An appeal against a conviction and sentence of Charles Pomare Reti, aged 28, to nine months imprisonment in the Magistrate’s Court on a charge of receiving a brown, leather jacket valued at $95, when he knew it had been stolen, was dismissed by Mr Justice Macarthur in the Supreme Court yesterday. Mr E. T. Higgins, who appeared for Reti, said that there was no evidence that when Reti purchased the jacket in a hotel bar he knew it was stolen, and there was insufficient evidence of the identification of the jacket. Reti had said that the jacket had been offered to him for $lO and he had

offered $3.50 and had been surprised when it was accepted. He had not tried to hide his identification when he went to sell the jacket to a second-hand dealer, said

Mr Higgins. His Honour said that evidence was given in the Magistrate’s Court that the jacket disappeared shortly after it was left in the foyer of a hotel. The same afternoon the appellant visited a second-hand shop and tried to sell the jacket. There was clear evidence of identification of the jacket by the owner, who had said it was made in Canada and was of an unusual style. The appellant had stated that he purchased the jacket at $3 or $3.50, which was a gross undervaluation. The record showed that Reti had been given a good deal of consideration in the past and had been admitted to probation three times. The Magistrate had found the appellant’s explanation for possession of the jacket clearly unacceptable. When the circumstances of the offence, the appellant’s record, and the fact that the offence was committed three days after his release from prison were taken into consideration, the sentence of nine months imprisonment which had been imposed was not inappropriate, his Honour said.

Mr N. W. Williamson appeared for the Crown.