MAGISTRATE’S COURT Oxy-acetylene plant used for burglaries

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33068, 8 November 1972, Page 22

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Oxy-acetylene plant used for burglaries

Oxy-acetylene equipment was stolen for use in two burglaries in the city late last month, the police told Mr H. IJ. Evans, S.M., when two men appeared before him in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on three charges of burglary. In one burglary, a safe was partly cut open with the equipment.

Alexander John Bromley and Ronald Gregory Lewis, both aged 21 and unemployed, were remanded in custody to November 15 for sentence after pleading guilty to all charges. Sergeant R. S. Morgan told the Court that the two defendants decided to commit a series of burglaries after meeting in a city hotel on October 27. They intended to steal money from the safes of city firms. Bromley and Lewis borrowed an associate’s utility vehicle and used it to carry away an oxy-acetlyene plant they took from the premises of Bellamy and East, in Victoria Street. They entered the building by breaking a window.

They then drove to the 'offices of a firm of accountants in Sydenham, Sergeant Morgan said. The defendants had heard that there was a safe there.

“They drove the van into a car park near the premises and climbed up a drain pipe on to the roof. After crossing the roof they forced open a window and climbed through

They found the firm’s safe against a wall. A search for the key was unsuccessful and they decided to return to the utility for the oxyacetylene equipment to cut it open.

Near the vehicle Lewis was disturbed by a commercial cleaner who asked him what he was doing there. “The defendant Lewis told the cleaner that he was minding his own business and that the cleaner should do the same,” Sergeant Morgan said. Lewis ran off to warn Bromley and they drove off at speed. They then decided to go to the firm of Hardie and Thomson in Colombo Street.

In this third burglary, the door was forced open with a screw driver and the defendants carried the oxyacetylene equipment inside to cut open the safe. Bromley used the cutting equipment while Lewis kept watch. After some time a hole had been cut in the safe but be-

■ fore they gained access to the i interior the oxygen supply bottle ran out. • Lewis and Bromley admitted the offences when interviewed by the police on October 30. They said they I needed extra money and thought the burglaries would jbe the easiest way to get it. 'They had originally intended ' to use explosives but had not ibeen able to obtain them. i A third person was suspeci ted, Sergeant Morgan said. Restitution of $4O for the i trolley stolen with the oxy- | acetylene equipment was re•quested. The trolley had not Ibeen recovered. The cost of (damage to the safe had not I then been assessed. THEFT Thomas Henry Horsfall, aged 30, a labourer (Mr E. T. Higgins), pleaded guilty to charges of stealing a watch, cuff links and rings worth $ll9. and stealing a camera worth $4O between July 20 and August 11. He was convicted and remanded in custody to November 15 for sentence. Sergeant Morgan said Horsfall stole the articles from a woman with whom he was living in a de facto relationship. He told the police he sold them to obtain money to take the complainant out. REMANDED Robin Michael Sutherland, aged 22. a prison inmate iMr D. J R. Holderness), pleaded not guilty to a charge of injuring a prison officer with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm. He was remanded in custody to November 21 for a fixture.

I FALSE FIRE ALARM ! On a charge of wllfull giving a false fire alarm on September i 26. Christopher Cleave, aged 18 a wool scourer, was convicted and fined $4O and ordered to pay restitution of $25. He pleaded guilty. TWENTY-EIGHT CHARGES Allan Robert Donaldson, aged 25. a clerk (Mr 1. J. D. Halb elected trial by jury on 20 charges of obtaining money by a false pretence and eight charges of obtaining credit by fraud. He was remanded on bail to November 22 for the taking of depositions. CLOTHING THEFTS [ Susan Baker, aged 18, a factory worker, pleaded guilty to charges of stealing a rijlon blouse worth 57.99 and an acrylic frock worth Sl2 on October 27. She was convicted and fined $2O on each charge. THEFT AS A SERVANT Michael Stephen Birt, aged 20 a cook (Mr E. T Higgins), was : fined $lOO when he appeared for sentence on a charge of stealing meat and groceries worth $9.43 from his employer, the Mine Cellar Restaurant, on October 31. He had previously pleaded guilty and been convicted. (Before Mr F. G. Paterson. S.M.) CONVICTION David Alexander Swan, aged 30, a builder’s labourer iMr J Cadenhead). was convicted and remanded on bail to November 13 for sentence on a charge of burglary. He had pleaded net guilty. Swan and two accomplices burgled a house in Holly Road and. after removing a refrigerator and blankets, set fire to the house. Swan claimed that he took no part in the burglary other than receiving the stolen property. The property was found in the attic of his house.