MAGISTRATE’S COURT Young man convicted of assault with beer glass

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32665, 22 July 1971, Page 13

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Young man convicted of assault with beer glass

A young man who inflicted deep cuts on another man's face during a party at a Rolleston house on May 15 was convicted on a charge of assault and remanded on bail to July 28 for sentence when he appeared before Mr W. F. Brown, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was Kerry David Milne, aged 22, a shoe-machine operator (Mr B. A. Barrer).

I Milne pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Anthony George Sunich. A charge of assault with intent to injure I had previously been withdrawn by the police with the Court’s consent.

Sergeant V. F. Townshend said that Milne was attending a party at a house in Rolleston when he jabbed a beer glass in the complainant’s face. Mr Sunich suffered deep cuts on the chin which required 12 stitches. He would probably be scarred for life.

Mr Barrer said it was Milne’s intention to flick beer from the glass into Mr Sunich’s face. He did not intend to strike him with the glass.

INDECENT ASSAULT “You were baby-sitting in some other person’s home and in a posiUon of trust,” the Magistrate told Noel Anthony Lewis, aged 21, a soldier (Mr K. N. Hampton), when Lewis appeared for sentence on three charges of Indecent assault on a seven-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. Lewis was sentenced to imprisonment for four months and released on probation for one year after his prison sentence.

CREDIT BY FRAUD George William Ward, aged 47, unemployed (Mr R. F. B. Perry), was placed on probation for one year and ordered to pay restitution of $126.20 when he appeared for sentence on a charge of obtaining board and lodging worth $126.20 by fraud on July 6. Mr Perry said that the circumstances did not suggest a great degree of criminality. It was to his credit that the defendant gave himself up to the police. The Magistrate said that Ward had held positions of responslblUty in AustraUa before coming to New Zealand. The break-up of his marriage and his drink problem might have had something to do with the offence.

Maui Onekura Mason, an unemployed timber worker, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Richard John Mosen, on July 20. He was convicted and remanded in custody to July 28 for sentence.

Sergeant Townshend said that Mason struck the complainant over the face with a heavy leather belt as the complainant sat in the passenger seat of a car stopped at traffic lights at the intersection of High Street and Colombo Street. Mason had been a passenger in a car which had stopped immediately behind that in which Mr Mosen was travelling. The driver of the car in which Mason was travelling, Roger Peter Eliott, aged 19, a freezing worker, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Donald John Tappin, the driver of the car In front. Sergeant Townshend said that Eliott punched Mr Tappin in the face while Mr Tappin was sitting behind the wheel. Eliott was convicted and remanded on ball to July 28 for Sergeant Townshend said that the defendant said that the complainants had abused them earlier in the evening. Police inquiries, however, had failed to substantiate this.

FINE OF $lOO Robert William Curwood, aged 24, a die-caster (Mr J. D. Atkinson), appearing for sentence on two charges of burglary of the premises of his former employer, P.D.L. Industries, Ltd, was fined $lOO and placed on probation for one year, Mr Atkinson said that Curwood was very shy. especially towards people in authority, and made a key to use In the course of his employment. He could have asked his employers for a key, but preferred not to da so. The key was used to break Into the premises from which property worth $lO9 was taken. THEFT OF CAR

When the defendant saw a car stored In a Wellington yard with the keys In the ash tray he stole it. painted It another colour and exchanged it for another car in Christchurch, the Court was told. Ronald Gordon Milner, aged 28, a carpenter’s labourer (Mr E. T. Higgins), pleaded gulltv to stealing a car valued at $l3OO from Wellington on July 2. He was remanded in custody until July 28 for sentence.

Sergeant Townshend said the car was stored in a yard opposite a garage where it had been for repair. The defendant found the keys in the ash tray, removed the registration plates from another car, put them on to the first car and drove away. At Levin the car was sprayed another colour and was driven to Christchurch on July 16, where It was exchanged for another car by a second-hand dealer. Milner was then arrested. He said he intended to take the second car back to Wellington and sell It.

The Magistrate said that Milner had a bad list of convictions.

Colin Malcolm Hardaker, aged 33, an unemployed carpenter (Mr W. D. Moultrie), was convicted and fined $4O when he pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Raymond Joseph Evans outside the Woolston Tavern on March 13. Sergeant W. J. Nlcholl said that Mr Evans left the Woolston Tavern about 10.13 p.m. and was tripped outside by Hardaker, who then punched him in the face.

Mr Moultrie obtained leave to call evidence because of conflict with the police statement of facts. Hardaker said In evidence that he tripped Mr Evans. He denied punching him. The Magistrate said he was left with a doubt as to who

struck the complainant. He would deal with Hardaker on the basis of his haying tripped the complainant.

BURGLARY James William Price, aged 20, unemployed (Mr P. G. Belizeman), was fined $3O and placed on probation for 18 months when he was sentenced on a charge of burgling the Cuckoo Tea Rooms in Manchester Street on July 8. He had pleaded guilty and been convicted. The Magistrate said it was apparent that Price had missed many of the advantage! of a stable home. PERIODIC DETENTION Mark Anani McGregor, aged 23, a driver (Mr E. T. Higgins), was sentenced to periodic detention for three months, released on probation for 15 months, and ordered to pay restitution not exceeding $100.45 when he appeared for sentence on charges of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle and obscene language. Mr Higgins said that McGregor lived with the complainant and had used the vehicle on other occasions with permission, but at the time of the offence he drove the vehicle to Palmerston North without permission. The Magistrate said McGregor had a number of convictions for obscene language. Damage to the vehicle amounted to $lOO.

FINED AND DISQUALIFIED After the defendant’s car collided with a power-cyclist the defendant accelerated away, Sergsant R. S. Morgan said when enis Steav Green, aged 19, a truck driver (Mr D. M. Palmer), pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop after an accident, failing to ascertain if anyone was Injured, and failing to yield the right of way. He was fined $lOO and disqualified for nine months.

Sergeant Morgan said that the collision occurred at the junction of Lincoln Road and Clarence Street on May 17 when the defendant was making a right turn. He told the police he did not stop because he was in a hurry to get a passenger back to work. Mr Palmer said that Green thought he had ample time to get across the intersection and he called out to the powercyclist: "Are you all right?” after he was knocked over. THEFT OF BOAT On a charge of stealing a fibreglass boat worth $3O on May 23, Clinton Joseph McGrath, aged 21, a labourer, was convicted and remanded on ball to July 28 for sentence. He pleaded guilty Sergeant Nlcholl said that a police patrol saw McGrath carrying the boat as he walked down York Street about 1 a.m. McGrath said he had bought the boat for $25 the previous week.

DISCHARGED E -. slack > a hairdresser (Mr M. J. Glue), was discharged without conviction under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act on a charge of using unlicensed hairdressing premises. He had earlier pleaded guilty. Mr Glue said that Slack had since complied with the requirements of the Christchurch City Council (Mr G. R. Lascelles) and had paid $l5 towards the coats of prosecution.

THEFT FROM EMPLOYER “You were too weak-willed on this occasion,” the Magistrate told a youth who issued a sales docket for $8 at Haines Motors, Ltd and kept the money. The youth, Steven John Sumner, aged 19, a spare-parts assistant (Mr C. A. McVeigh), pleaded guilty to a charge of theft on May 14. He was fined $25. Sergeant Nlcholl said that a duplicate copy of the sales docket was found in a rubbish tin. The money was shared between the defendant and another youth employed by the firm. The defendant was still employed by the firm. The money had been paid back. Mr McVeigh said that it was the defendant’s first offence, committed on the spur of the moment. He asked for suppresslon of name because the de-

fendant’a mother was under medical treatment. The Magistrate refused suppression of name. FALSE PRETENCES Graham John Nelson, aged 17, a farmhand, was remanded on bail until July 28 for sentence when he pleaded guilty to charges of false pretences and theft on May 23 and May 24 at Taupiri and Hamilton. Sergeant Nicholl said that a blank cheque was stolen from the defendant’s brother and cashed for $3O. The defendant said he signed his brother’s signature and cashed the cheque because he wanted the money for a train ticket to Wellington. ASSAULT CHARGE A charge of assault was adjourned partrheard until August 10 after the defendant, Louis Leonard Roberts, aged 35, a car painter (Mr C. B. Atkinson), had pleaded not guilty. Another charge of assault, to which Roberts pleaded guilty, was adjourned to the same date. Sergeant Nicholl said the incidents occurred in Memorial Avenue on April 17 when the defendant assaulted his female companion in his car and another person who attempted to interfere. (Before Mr P. L. Molineaux, S.M.) THEFT OF CLOTHING Dougall McLean, aged 35, an unemployed Australian on workers’ compensation, was convicted on a charge of stealing a furlined jacket valued at $33.75, the property of Grade’s, New Brighton, Ltd, on June 12. He was remanded on bail to July 28 for sentence. Mr A. F. W. Wilding appeared for McLean, who pleaded not guilty. McLean said in evidence that he bought the jacket from a well-dressed Maori whom he took to be an assistant employed in the shop. He paid $l5 for the jacket and produced a receipt for that amount. To Sergeant Morgan, McLean said that he did not show the receipt to the police when he was arrested because he had lost it in one of his pockets. He did not take the receipt to the police when he found it because he did not trust the police and was waiting to give it to the solicitor who was being assigned to him on legal aid. McLean admitted that he had worked under assumed names since he came to New Zealand in May. McLean had given at least four versions of how he had come into possession of the jacket, said the Magistrate. Later in the day McLean 6 leaded not guilty before Mr 1. C. Astley, S.M., to a charge of stealing a cardigan valued at $15.30, the property of S. R. Ingold, Ltd. He was convicted and remanded in custody to July 28 for sentence. (Before Mr M. C. Astley, S.M.) EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL Phillip Gary Turnock, aged 22, a contract wool presser (Mr I. J. D. Hall), was fined $BO and disqualified for nine months on a charge of driving with an excessive alcohol concentration. He pleaded not guilty, counsel submitting, unsuccessfully, that the traffic officer did not have just cause to suspect that the defendant was not capable of driving because of liquor, and that the subsequent blood test was therefore invalid. Turnock was found tb have an

alcohol concentration of 173 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. Harold Retl McClurg, aged 49, a stockman (Mr D. J. Osborne), was convicted and fined $2OO and disqualified for three years on a charge of driving with an excessive alcohol concentration. On a charge of dangerous driving he was convicted and fined $5O and disqualified from driving tor one year. The two terms of disqualification are to be concurrent. He pleaded guilty. The alcohol concentration, the Court was told, was 223 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

Imprisonment seemed to be warranted, but because of the character references submitted a penalty short of imprisonment would be imposed, the Magistrate said.

Lawrence David Coles, aged 46, a fitter and turner (Mr B. A. Barrer), charged with driving with an excessive alcohol con-, centratlon, was fined $250 and' disqualified for three years. The Magistrate said that the| defendant had been taking a drug and this, coupled with! alconol, increased the intoxication. He thought the defendant’s record entitled him to a penalty less than imprisonment. In other excessive alcohol prosecutions, convictions were entered and penalties imposed as follows, with court costs of $5 in each case:— Paul Lennon, $125. disqualified for nine month; Russell Natham Evans, $125, disqualified for one year; Donald Watkins, $2OO, disqualified for two years; Matthew Paratone Broughton, $5O, disqualified for six months. (Before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M.) BURGLARY CHARGES Three of 37 burglary charges to which Robert Trevor Ryan, aged 24, pleaded not guilty were dismissed at the end of the prosecution evidence. Ryan was remanded in custody to appear today for a date to be fixed for the completion of the hearing. Ryan (Mr K. N. Hamptpn) also denies two charges of attempted burglary.

Continuing his cross-examina-tion of Detective Constable James Victor Dwight, Mr Hampton asked him whether he recalled speaking to Ryan after he had indicated he would be changing his plea from guilty to not guilty on some of the charges. The witness said he had some conversation with Ryan in the alley of No. 1 courtroom and expressed surprise at his change of plea. The witness denied saying that he would go to Ryan’s home and his friends’ homes and search them, and ending the conversation by saying that his chances were up now if he pleaded not guilty. He also denied making other threats to Ryan with regard to the pleas, and said it made no difference to him whether a defendant pleaded guilty or not guilty. At the end of crossexamination, the Magistrate questioned the witness on what had taken place during the interviews in the C. 1.8. office and said finally:—“l should put this squarely to you. You say it meant nothing to you whether Ryan pleaded guilty or not guilty. What was the occasion for you to go talking to a defendant in a court context on whether he was pleading guilty or not guilty?” The witness replied that he was surprised at the change of attitude in Ryan towards him and wanted to talk to him about that. He did not want to badger him to change his plea. Giving evidence, Ryan said that after he admitted the burglary of Burke’s Caterers, Ltd, he was refused a solicitor, and Detective Constable Dwight told him during an interview that if he got out of his chair he would be put back “pretty quick.” He was left alone for an hour and then Detective Constable Dwight came back. “He said: *Not much of a liar, are you?* and started yanking my ear round in several different ways,” the defendant said. “Then L received several blows to the back of the head. He said he was going to get something out of me if it was the last thing he did.”

The defendant said he was hit on the back of the head again and his hair was pulled. At a later interview, Detective Constable Dwight went through a list of burglaries and the defendant said “yes” just to get rid of them. The defendant said he had committed 11 other burglaries and the Burke’s Caterers burglary, but denied knowing anything about the others he was charged with. Cross-examined by Senior-Ser-geant W. J. Prentice, Ryan maintained that he was not allowed to see a solicitor during the interviews. He did not complain to any of the other policemen about his treatment because he did not think anyone would believe him. He waited until he saw Mr Hampton before telling anyone about it.