Magistrate's Court WOMAN ADMITS ARSON CHARGE

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32494, 2 January 1971, Page 7

Magistrate's Court WOMAN ADMITS ARSON CHARGE

A young married woman! I with four children pleaded iguilty to a charge of arson and ‘ was remanded on bail to January 5 for sentence when ;she appeared before Mr P. L. Molineaux. S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. She was granted interim I suppression of name and was represented by Mr M. J. Glue. Senior-Sergeant F. G. Mulcare said that on December 24 the defendant was 'abandoned by her husband and left with her four children in her sister’s one-bed- ! roomed flat. In the next I three days the defendant made unsuccessful attempts |to get her husband to take Them back. ! On December 27, while! I two of her children were asleep, the defendant lit 12 i fires in drawers and the wardjrobe, but they went out bei cause of the lack of air. ! Later she lit a fire in a I duchesse and in a linen cupboard as well as in the bathI room. Later the defendant rang the fire brigade from a box '2OO yards away. Extensive damage was done to all parts of the flat and the ad- | joining flat. YEAR’S GAOL I Peter John Foster, aged 22, an unemployed labourer, was ; gaoled for a year when he appeared for sentence on a charge of burgling a house on December 15.

The Magistrate said that Foster entered the house and stacked up articles to take, but he was disturbed by thei arrival of a tradesman, put’ the articles back and left, i “The record of his offending is one of persistent recidivism over the last 10 years,” the Magistrate said. Supervision by the Child Welfare Division, Borstal training, and imprisonment had all been tried. “Courts have allowed him his liberty three times this year by sending him to the adult work centre, but it has made no difference,” he said. SEVEN DAYS GAOL

“This is your fourth conviction for this type of offence,” said the Magistrate when sentencing George Patrick Shannon, aged 32, a driver, to seven days imprisonment on a charge of being found unlawfully in a building. Shannon pleaded guilty. Senior-Sergeant Mulcare said the owner of a property in Worcester Street rang the police at 1.45 a.m. on Thursday to say that Shannon was unlawfully in the house. Shannon was slightly intoxicated. JOINT CHARGES

Three men who burgled a New Plymouth paint shop and unlawfully took a car, then brought it to the South Island, where they committed further offences, were convicted and remanded in custody to January 7 for sentence.

Albert James Henderson, aged 33, and Kora Williams, aged 28, both unemployed, pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and unlawful taking of a car, and to a charge of burgling a Timaru bowling pavilion on December 17. Brownie Timutimu, aged 25, unemployed, pleaded

[guilty to the charges of burg- ! lary and unlawful taking of a car; guilty to a charge of| stealing a wallet containing; $57, an open cheque and a set of keys; and guilty to a! charge of obtaining $33 by false pretences. BURGLARIES ADMITTED | Two youths who pleaded guilty to three charges of! burglary were each convicted I and remanded in custody toj January 7 for sentence. They; were Christopher Cleave, aged 17 (Mr M. G. L. Loughnan), and Robert Barrie Rit-i chie, aged 19. ; Senior-Sergeant Mulcare I said the youths climbed on to the roof of Alex Campbell,! Ltd, Dunedm. and entered! through a skylight on November.lB. They stole $4B worth j of clothing. On December; 22 they entered the shop in! the same way and stole $3B; worth of clothing. On December 20 they! broke the rear window ofj Parks Food Store, Main South! Road, cut the bars and stole $6O worth of goods. ■ They were seen by the! police on December 25 and, admitted that they and another youth had committed! the offences. TOOK BEER “This was an unsports-man-like thing to do, to say the least,” the Magistrate told Raymond Robert Clarke, aged 32, a truck-driver, who pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing two cartons of beer from his employer. I Clarke was convicted and remanded on bail to January 7 for sentence. Senior-Sergeant Mulcare said that the cartons were taken from a truck parked outside a store where the firm was holding a Christmas party on December 22. When questioned by the police on the following day Clarke denied taking the beer, but after further inquiries ad-’ mitted the offence. He said he had taken the beer “to! share it with the boys next morning." |