MAGISTRATE’S COURT Pharmacy entry by youths for drugs

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

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Pharmacy entry by youths for drugs

A youth who admitted burgling a pharmacy in search of drugs' pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to charges of breaking and entering the Wairakei Pharmacy on October 24, and having tablets of the prescription poison quinal barbitone in | his possession on the same date. He is John Graham Davies, aged 18, a labourer (Mr C. A. McVeigh). Davies was convicted and remanded on bail to December 13 for sentence by Mr E. S. J. Crutchiey, S.M. Senior-Sergeant F. G. Mulcare said the pharmacy was entered about 9 p.m. by means of an opening cut in a section of the roof. The intruders ran off when disturbed. When Davies was interviewed the same evening he admitted breaking into the pharmacy with another youth who has been dealt with in the Children’s Court. He had 19 capsules containing the prescription poison in his possession and admitted having used other drugs. ARSON On a charge of wilfully setting fire to a house at 166 Ensors Road on November -12, Barrie Leonard Clarke, aged 21, a workman (Mr A. W. Robinson), was convicted and remanded in custody to December 13 for sentence. He pleaded guilty. Senior-Sergeant Mulcare said the police were called to Flat 1 at 166 Ensors Road, about 1 a.m. on November 12 after two fires had been lit against the house. Both were put out before their arrival. Tile police found that fires had

been deliberately lit against the front and back doors. The doors were charred and partly burnt paper against them had Clarke's name on it. Clarke, who had been living next door, denied lighting the fires. He had been drinking and refused to account for his movements during the night. NARCOTICS CHARGE On a charge of having cannabis in his possession on November 28, Christopher Howard Lambe, aged 18, a storeman (Mr J. E. Ryan), was convicted and remanded on bail to December 13 for sentence. He pleaded guilty. Senior-Sergeant Mulcare said 13.3 grams of cannabis were found in Lambe’s shoulder bag when a search warrant was executed at his parents’ house on November 28. Lambe told the police he bought the cannabis about a week before for $2O. WILFUL DAMAGE Claude Ferris, aged 19, a painter (Mr P. N. Duncan), pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully damaging a pool table in the Little River Hotel on October 23. He was convicted and fined $25 and ordered to pav restitution of $132. Senior-Sergeant Mulcare said Ferris became involved in a fight with one of his companions about 1.45 p.m. As he was leaving the hotel to continue the fight outside he threw a ball down on the table, damaged the felt and broke the glass underneath. Ferris told the police he was “pretty mad and pretty full” at the time. PROBATION Mark Hallam Johnston, aged 19, a woolspinner (Mr C. M. Marshall), was fined $5O and released on probation for one year when he was sentenced on charges of false pretences and theft. Johnston stole one Australia and New Zealand Bank cheque valued at $3B and had subsequently cashed the cheque for $438. CAR OFFENCE Trevor David Smith, aged 27, unemployed (Mr R. J. Murfitt), was sentenced to 12 months probation, and was disqualified from driving for 12 months, when he appeared on a charge of attempting unlawfully to take a car valued at $2OO. He was previously convicted after pleading guilty. A prohibition order is to be taken out against Smith. EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL Murray John Watson, aged 31, a labourer, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with an excessive blood-alcohol level (216 milligrams) on October 7. He was convicted and fined $175 and disqualified from driving for two years. On a charge of failing to ascertain if any person had been injured in an accident he pleaded guilty and was convicted and fined $5O and disqualified for one year (concurrent). FINED $l5O Michael Bailey, aged 18, a butcher, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with an excessive blood-alcohol level (181 milligrams) on October 17. He was convicted and fined $l5O, disqualified from driving for one year from December 20, and ordered to attend a defensive driving course. (Before Mr W. F. Brown, S.M.) FALSE PRETENCES A young Australian who used a false name when booking into a hotel in Christchurch and left without paying more than $7O owing for accommodation, was convicted of incurring a debt by false pretences or other fraud. The charge was defended. Robert Arthur Leonard, aged 27, a painter (Mr P. N. Duncan), was remanded in custody to December 13 for sentence. The Magistrate heard evidence from Kenneth John Luhrs, the proprietor of a city hotel, that the defendant had signed the hotel register with the name “A. Woods” as a guest between October 10 and October 19. He said he was impressed by the dress and demeanour of the defendant when he arrived at the hotel, and had no doubts about his ability or intention to pay for his lodgings. On October 19 the hotel housemaid found Leonard’s room empty and his luggage missing, the witness said. Hotel staff later traced the defendant to another hotel only 100 yards away.

Constable K. H. Knox said in evidence he had searched

Leonard’s room at the second hotel and found a letter written by the defendant. He read the letter to the Court. In the letter Leonard had written to Australian friends stating that he was “skipping from one pub to another without paying.” Constable G. W. Moore said the defendant had told him that he intended to pay the money but gave no explanation for using an assumed name. Questioned in Court about his use of an assumed name, Leonard said: “I was going with a girl at home who wants to get married but I think 1 am too young. I wanted to come here and think things over—that is why 1 changed my name.” When cross-examined by Detective Sergeant P. L. Ward, Leonard said he could not explain why he used his real name when booking in to the second hotel. The defendant said in evidence that he still intended to repay the $70.95 he owed the proprietor and offered to do so in advance when being booked in by a hotel barman. He said he was dependent on money from Australia but the person responsible for sending it to him had been killed. He left the hotel for the second one because the rent there was cheaper. He wrote the passage in the letter because he was not a good writer and could not think of anything else to write about. The Magistrate said he found the evidence against Leonard overwhelming. He also found that the explanation for the use of a false name was unconvincing and that the letter showed clearly the defendant’s intentions.