MAGISTRATE’S COURT Offences while on bail: six months gaol

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32604, 12 May 1971, Page 10

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Offences while on bail: six months gaol

The defendant, having committed offences while on bail, first when awaiting sentence on burglary charges and then pending the outcome of an appeal against that sentence, had left the Court no alternative but to increase the prison term he was already serving, Mr P. L. Molineaux, S.M., said in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Michael William Gray, aged 26, unemployed (Mr R. F. Powell), was appearing for sentence on a charge of being a rogue and a vagabond in that he was found by night unlawfully in an enclosed yard on May 1. He had previously pleaded guilty. He was also charged with unlawfully taking three cars on April 26 and 27, to which he also pleaded guilty. On each of the charges of unlawfully taking he was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment, the terms to be concurrent with each other and with the 18-month prison term he is at present serving. He was also disqualified from driving for three years. On the vagrancy charge he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, to be served in addition to his present prison term. “It is very hard to imagine the degree of irresponsibility and even criminality of a person who, while on bail, pending sentence on four serious charges, commits three offences of taking cars and then appeals against his sentence on those four charges and while again on bail offends once more,” said the Magistrate. “Notwithstanding the quite substantial prison term he is at present serving, the flagrancy and defiance of his offending while on bail leave the Court no alternative but to increase that sentence,” he said.

For Gray, Mr Powell said the offences had been prompted by an excessive consumption’of liquor. BURGLARY Barney King, aged 19, unemployed. was convicted and remanded in custody to May 18 for sentence when he pleaded guilty to a charge of breaking and entering a house at Clevedon on April 23. Sergeant S. J. Young said i that when King was arrested : ' in Christchurch he readily ad-1 mitted the burglary. King told the police, that he had: stayed at the house for two nights previously and knew that no-one would be at home. He searched the house for money and found a locked wardrobe, the back of which he prised off. Inside he found a wallet containing $5OO in notes. He took the money and ' clothing and bought a car and travelled to the South Island.

Restitution of $530 was asked for. OFFENSIVE WEAPON

Graham James Brown, aged 20, an apprentice presser (Mr J. C. Butler), was placed on probation for one year when he appeared for sentence on a charge of having a sheath knife in his possession in Rolleston Avenue

without lawful excuse on March 7.

On a charge of assaulting Edith Ellen Newsome on April 10, on which he also appeared for sentence, he was fined $3O. Mr Butler said that the assault charge arose as a result of Brown’s having too much liquor. The knife he had was an old boy scout knife which had been in his possession since he was 10. The Magistrate said it was extremely foolish of Brown to go about with a sheath knife, even if, as he said, it was for his own protection. “This is faulty thinking on his part,” he said. “People can go about their lawful business in New Zealand without being armed.” BURGLARY Graham Malcolm Smith, aged 17, unemployed (Mr J. R. Fox), pleaded guilty to a charge of breaking into a house at Seddonville on December 31. He was convicted and remanded on bail to May 18 for sentence. Sergeant Young said that between 3.40 pan. and 4.30 p.m. on December 31 a house in Charming Creek Road, Seddonville, which was rented by the defendant’s

brother-ih-law, was broken into. A 15-gallon hot-water cylinder, worth $4O, was taken and had not been recovered. In addition, partitions and walls in the house were smashed and damage of a total value of $250 done. The defendant was one of three youths travelling in a truck through Seddonville that day. He and one other youth were apprehended after an accident outside the township that evening and admitted committing, the burglary.

n FALSE ALARM On a charge of wilfully giving a false alarm of fire on May 10. Bernard Anthony Johns, aged 21, an unemployed drainage S?' k S r > convicted and lined 850. He pleaded guilty. Sergeant Young said that three fire engines were sent to a house In Pine Avenue on May was found to be a malicious false “J™- TTte expenses involved in th e call amounted to 385. Johns admitted making the call when Interviewed at 7.45 p.m. that day. He said he did it for a joke and did not realise the seriousness of It. Sergeant Young said that Johns was undergoing psychiatric treatment as a voluntary paUent. BREACH OF ORDER Michael Charles Graham, aged 22, a workman, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving outside or the terms of a Court order on May 10. He was convicted and remanded on ball to May 18 for sentence. Graham was directed to undergo a medical examination with a view to a sentence of periodic detention. Sergeant Young said that Graham obtained an exemption from a disqualification order to enable him to drive a heavy motor vehicle for the purpose only of his employment. Graham was driving a car when apprehended by the police. STOLE SURFBOARDS On a charge of stealing three surfboards worth 354 from Quanes Surfboards, Ltd, about March 11, John Stuart Handlev, aged 18, a workman was convicted and remanded on bail to •'l*7 18 tor sentence. He pleaded Sergeant Young said that Handley admitted stealing the boards when interviewed on May 19. He also said he had sold two of the boards. CHARGE DISMISSED A charge of doing an indecent act to insult or offend a 15-year old girl was dismissed after Denis Manson Wren, aged 43, a shop proprietor (Mr W. H. McMena min), had pleaded not guilty. The alleged offence occurred at the defendant's premises, the Santa Fe Dairy, on April 16. said Sergeant Morgan. Dismissing the charge, the Magistrate said that the girl was not Insulted as she saw nothing. The whole of her evi dence was unreliable and he could not enter a conviction on what the defendant was doing tn the back of his shop. OTHER CHARGES

In other prosecutions brought iby the police, convictions were entered and penalties imposed as : follows with court costs S 5 in each chprge: Careless use: Elizabeth Margaret Gorman. 315, disqualified for one month (failed to report accident, convicted and dis charged); Thomas David Brad ley 825. Minor on licensed premises: , Raymond Kooky Berger, 310; Mark Flanagan, 312 (gave false ; particulars, 810); Richard Flan- . agan, *l2 (gave false particulars, I 810): James William Fowler. *lO. I (Before Messrs C. H. Clemens and S. E. Boanas Justices of the Peace) BURGLARY Patrick Thomas Michael Maunsell aged 21, unemployed (Mr K. N. Hampton), was convicted and remanded in custody to the • Supreme Court for sentence : »hen he appeared on a charge , of burglary. He pleaded guiiiv 1 to the charge after the taking ' of deposit*<wir, Mr Q A. McVeigh, who had appeared for Maunsell earlier, was given leave to withdraw I from the case because of a conflict of interests. Mr J. E. Milne, a barman at the Riccarton Hotel, said that he Inspected the premises at 11 p.m. on April 27 and saw that three louvres had been removed from • window. He found that liquor, groceries and an iron, of a total value of 3136.06, had been stolen. Detective Constable T. A. Moyce said that on an inspection of the hotel premises he found fingezprintz and shoe impressions or two people. On April 29 he went to a roominghouse in Hereford Street, where he questioned the defendant and three other persons. A search revealed the iron, liquor and groceries stolen from the hotel and shoes with treads fitting the impressions taken from the hotel grounds. The defendant said the stolen property found in the flat had nothing to do with him. (Before Mr M. C. Astley. S.M.) ASSAULT Leslie JMm Keenan, aged 19, a bushntan (Mr C. A McVeigh), was convicted and fined *BO on a charge of assaulting Alecia Frances Sampson on March 19. He pleaded not guilty. (Before Mr K. H. J. Head Hen, SJL) MISCELLANEOUS CASES In miscellaneous prosecutions brought by Government departments, convictions and tines were entered as follows, with Court costs of *5 in each case:— Failed to furnish statement of Income: Graeme AUster Maitland, 33; William Henry Clayton Mason. S 4; Murray David Robinson, So; Hugh Edward Barton, SO; Arthur William Benton, *l5; n* Shlriey McQullean, *10; Richard Mulholland Ross, *lO. Failed to clear noxious weeds: Kenneth Alexander Booker, *5; Percy Frederick Bull, *5O.

Filled to fence machinery: C.M.W. Industries, Ltd, «0. (Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, j s.m.) ; REMANDED Robert Trevor Ryan, aged 24, a j lifter’s assistant (Mr K. N. Hampton), was remanded in the cus-f i tody of a mental hospital until I Maj* 14 for a psychiatric report after the Magistrate had agreed to grant a rehearing of 30 i charges of burglary, to which ■'the defendant pleaded not ■ ! guilty. The Magistrate said that the application for rehearing was .granted only because of the defendant’s personal disabilities. The defendant had previously ■ pleaded not guilty to eight other l i charges and guilty to 11 charges - of burglary. ! (Before Messrs L. Fulford and G. A. Brown, Justices of the Peace) COMMITTED FOR TRIAL ; Three men were committed to the Supreme Court for trial ■ after depositions had been taken ,on charges of robbing David Tomlins on March 24. The men are Alfred John O!d-‘ , ham, aged 23, a coke bagger (Mr iJ. E. Butler), Stephen Michael ‘ Postlethwaite, aged 20, unem- ’ ployed (Mr R. L. Kerr), and Beni jamin Te Where Waikato, aged j 34, unemployed (Mr A. K.; ' Grant). Each pleaded not guilty. Sail was allowed. The complainant said that he . was drinking with friends at a | ' city hotel from 5.30 p.m. to be- i i tween 9.15 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. on ) March 24. About 7 p.m. three [ persons came into the bar, one i of whom was Oldham, whom he c knew.

After he left the bar to get something to eat, he walked '' down Worcester Street and turned left into Oxford Terrace, before walking across the Hereford Street bridge, he said. He I 5 had walked 10 to 15 yards along . the river path when Waikato and • 1 Oldham grabbed him, he said. Keys, discs on the key ring, and a pay packet with CM in it were taken. He suffered bruises to the left hip and small of his back, and a graze on the forearm, he said. Cheryl Ann Wilder, a clerk, ' said that she had known Postie- f thwaite for about three years. She was with the three defendants on March 24 when the al- -x leged robbery occurred, she ;sald. Waikato had hit Mr Tomlins. Oldham had grabbed Mr • ■ Tomlins, and Postlethwafte had “put the boot in a coupla of t times.” C BURGLARY CHARGE Larry Heml Mathews, aged 21, W . a carpenter (Mr A. K. Grant), was committed to the Supreme Court for trial on a charge of ~ » burgling the Cycle Trading Com- ' pany on March 26. He pleaded not guilty. He was remanded in custody. Douglas Gerald Pettigrew, the manager of the Cycle Trading Company, said that he secured the premises at 5.30 p.m. on March 25. and when he returned at 8 am. on March 26 a safe containing about *6OO in cash and *lOO In cheques, and some i documents, was missing. Detective Sergeant J. A. Dawson said that when he inter- , viewed Mathews in Temuka, Mathews denied the burglary and said he did not know of the shop. He still denied it when ! told that fingerprints taken from i fragments of a glass window at the rear of the premises had been identified as nil, a