J.P. commends girl who took car number

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33093, 7 December 1972, Page 10

J.P. commends girl who took car number

The action of a 17-year-old girl in noting the registration number of an alleged “getaway” car from the scene of a daylight jewellery theft in September was commended by Mr S. E. Boanas, Justice of the Peace, in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Appearing before Messrs Boanas and G. A. Brown, Justices of the Peace, was Henry Matthew Huntley, aged 32, a woodworker (Mr C. A. McVeigh), who pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing 35 diamond rings worth $4407 from the High Street shop of W. Ruddiman, Ltd, on September 14. After the taking of depositions, Huntley was comtnitted to the Supreme Court for trial, being remanded on bail in the interim. Vicki Elizabeth Crawford, aged 17, an office worker, said that she and a friend saw a woman hurrying towards a parked car in Lichfield Street about 1.55 p.m. on September 14. As the woman got into the car. a man got into the driver’s side and told the woman to take her bright green cardigan off. The woman obeyed.

“I thought it a bit funny and so I took the car’s registration number and got in touch with the police,” said the witness, who was commended by Mr Boanas for her action.

Adrienne Pearl Rhodes, aged 18, an office worker, said that she was with the previous witness and saw a dark-skinned man get into the car. She could not describe him. Elsie Mary Rose Roberts, manageress of W. Ruddiman, Ltd, said that a girl viewed a tray of rings about 1.50 p.m. on September 14. The girl then asked to see another tray. While witness was picking up the second tray, the girl walked out of the shop with the first tray. Alanah Christine Nicholls, an inmate of Paparua women’s prison, said that the defendant was her “boy-friend” at the time of the alleged offence. Together they had planned to “do the shop over.”

The witness said that they worked out a plan of the streets in the area, the defendant drawing the plan on a piece of paper. Witness said that she burnt the plan In a drum outside her flat. The defendant’s part, she said, was to be in the car and have it ready for her when she stole the rings. The defendant had the car ready as planned. It was also his job to get rid of the rings. He took them to witness’s flat. Next morning, he took the rings away. Both she and the defendant had not seen them since and

did not know what had happened to them, witness said. Detective Sergeant A. G. I. Rodgers said that as a result of information received he stopped the defendant driving a car on the Sumner causeway. The car was searched, but there was no trace of the rings. In an unsigned statement, the defendant had said that he had borrowed the car from a friend. The defendant had admitted parking the car in Lichfield Street, but denied that a girl had got into the car. Detective Sergeant Rodgers said that the defendant was present in the Supreme Court at 10 a.m. on November 2 when Miss Nicholls was sentenced for her part in the offence. When arrested, the defendant had had nothing to say. Constable D. Reynolds said that he searched Miss Nicholls’s flat on September 18. In a rubbish bin he found the charred remains of a map torn in pieces, j The map contained the names and locations of several Christchurch streets, including Colombo, Cashel, High and Hereford streets.