MAGISTRATE’S COURT Man assaulted person who stole and wrecked his car

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33938, 3 September 1975, Page 9

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Man assaulted person who stole and wrecked his car

A man who assaulted the person who stole his car, wrecked it, and refused to pay for it, was ordered to do 50 hours community work, and was put on probation for a year by Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The man, Robert Charles Rockford, aged 24, a cable assembler, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Richard John Emery Fry.

Sergeant T. Moore said that about 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 23, Rochford went to Fry’s home, and asked for money he owed him. Fry refused to pay him, and Rochford asked him outside. Fry refused and Rochford struck him across the face with his open hand, and draggecf him outside. Rochford then hit Fry twice in the face with his fist. Fry suffered minor facial injuries which did not require medical attention.

Mr P. J. Rutledge, for the defendant, said .that some time ago Fry stole Rochford’s car from the park at the Hornby Trust Hotel, ran into a pole, and the vehicle, which was valued at $7OO was a “write-off.” The car was not insured. .

Fry was prosecuted in the Court but no order was made for restitution. Fry promised to pay Rochford $2O a week but despite regular calls on Fry, no money was paid. A relation of Fry’s telephoned Rochford and told him that Fry was leaving home after disagreements. Rochford went to Fry’s home and asked him for some money. Fry refused to give him any and said he had no intention of ever paying him. Rochford, who had been without a car for six months because of Fry’s criminal activity, lost his temper and struck Fry. He was sorry for his action.

Counsel submitted . that Rochford should be discharged without conviction or given a deferred sentence. “While I can understand the reason for your bad temper, and violence, that does not excuse you taking the law into your own hands,” the Magistrate said. “The complainant has been dealt with by the Court. You have a previous conviction for assault. I can’t condone this violence.”An appeal against the sentence imposed on Rochford is to be lodged in the Supreme Court. ASSAULT IN LAVATORY A man who assaulted another man in the toilets of the Manchester Street car park building believed the complainant was making homosexual advances towards him, the Court was told. Stephen Patrick Longley, aged 25, a carrier, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault. The complainant’s name was suppressed. Longley was convicted and released on probation for 12 months. As a special condition he was ordered to do 50 hours community work. Sergeant Moore said that on August 30. the complainant was in one of the cubicles when the door burst open and he was punched twice in the face. The complainant fled to the i Ministry of Transport operations ■ room, which is in the same building, and the police were called. For the defendant, Mr D. M. Palmer, as duty-solicitor, said that while the defendant was in the toilet, the complainant put his head under the partition. When the defendant came out of his cubicle, the complainant was standing looking at the door. The defendant took the complainant to the M.O.T. operations room to call the police. This was in the defendant’s favour, as was the fact that the defendant did not try to get away, and admitted what he had done. The Magistrate said that the defendant’s reaction to the situation was violent and illegal. He had taken the law into his own hands, and he was not entitled to behave in this way. Sergeant Moore said there was no evidence that any advances had been made, and, on his instructions, the complainant had gone for help with defendant in pursuit. THREATENED TO KILL Wayne Albert Walker, aged 23, an unemployed baker, was convicted and remanded on bail until September 9 for sentence

when he pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to kill. Sergeant Moore said that on August 25 the defendant called at the Christchurch ‘ Central Police Station and confessed to a number of offences. Because their authenticity could not be checked immediately, he was told he could go, and the matter would be investigated. The defendant refused, saying he wanted to be arrested. He later went to a city hotel, and telephoned the police saying he was going to an address to kill the complainant witii a knife because she had deceived him. When the police arrived at the address, the defendant was walking up the drive. He was unarmed. In explanation, the defendant told the police that he only wanted attention for his mental problem. DISTURBANCE One of a group of three young men who caused a disturbance on the inter-island steamer Rangatira on Monday night, appeared on a charge of using obscene language in a publicplace. He pleaded guilty, and was convicted.

Sergeant Moore said that the man, Rex Kapita Martin, aged 23, a panelbeater of Christchurch, and the two other youths were drinking at the ship’s bar where they were causing considerable disturbance. The three men were asked to leave the bar by the chief steward. The men then returned to their cabin where the disturbance continued. After numerous complaints from other passengers, the three men were taken into custody. In sentencing Martin, the Magistrate told him he was before the Court for his "antisocial behaviour.” He was fined $5O. ASSAULTED WOMAN

Harry Simons, a 19-year-old baker, appeared on a charge of assaulting a young woman. He pleaded guilty, was convicted, put on probation for 12 months and ordered to do 100 hours of community work. Sergeant Moore said that Simons entered the house of the young woman and an argument developed. Simons pushed the woman on to a bed and punched her on the nose.

The woman was taken to hospital by ambulance where she was treated for concussion. The Magistrate said that the law took a serious view of assault, especially by a male on a female. The penalties for. assault by a male on a female were double that of a male assaulting another male. RECEIVING Wayne Barr, aged 18, a shop departmental manager, was convicted and remanded to September 9 for sentence when he pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving gas-cutting equipment, worth $4BO, the property of Golcrum Hayward, Ltd. Sergeant Moore said that sometime in early August the defendant was offered some gascutting equipment for $5O. He was to share it with a friend. They went to an address to pick up the gear, then took it to the defendant’s home. He told the police that he knew the equipment was stolen, but thought that he would take

the risk. He had had no opportunity to use the equipment as the gas bottles were empty. He intended using it to build beachbuggies, the defendant said. FIGHTING IN SQUARE A young man who fought with another young man outside a hamburger bar in Cathedral Square on the evening of August 29 was convicted and released on probation for 12 months when he appeared on a charge of fighting in a public place. William James Beech, aged 20, unemployed, pleaded guilty. As a special condition of his probation he was ordered to do 24 hours community work. COMMUNITY WORK A former storeman who admitted stealing a razor valued at $14.97 from his employer. P. C. Blenkarne, Ltd, was put on probation for 12 months and ordered to do 100 hours of community work, when he appeared for sentence

The Magistrate said that Samuel Edgar Thomas Martin, aged 32, had a long record of dishonesty going back to 1963.

However, the latest incident seemed to have been a lapse in “a recent period of honest living” and Martin would be allowed to remain in the community in the hope that this was only a lapse. TWO CHARGES

Manuarikl Kouka, aged 18, an unemployed factory hand, was convicted when he pleaded guilty to charges of stealing one jacket valued at $53.50, the property of N-Z. Farmers’. Ltd, Riccarton, and of receiving one radiocassette tape recorder, valued at $lBO. For the prosecution. Sergeant T. Moore said that the defendant ran from the police when he was seen with the cassette player. He later told the police that he had bought the cassette player for $25 in a hotel. When interviewed about the theft of the jacket the defendant said the reason he took it was because he was cold.

He was remanded until September 9 for sentence. REMANDED ON BAIL

Joseph Michael Williams, aged 24, a labourer, was convicted and remanded on bail to September 9 for sentence when he pleaded guilty to two charges of breaking and entering, and one of breaking out, having entered a building to commit a crime. Sergeant Moore said that, in August, two rooms in a boarding house were entered, one of them twice. Property valued at more than $2O was stolen. The defendant admitted the burglaries, and said that two of them had been committed with an associate. UNLAWFUL TAKING James William David Munroe, a factory hand was convicted and remanded to September 9 for sentence when he pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully taking a car on June 17. FINED $75 Jeffrey Alec Mcllroy, aged 20. a soldier, was convicted and fined $75 and disqualified from driving for six months when he pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with an excessive bloodalcohol level (145 mg on August 30. (Before Mr W. F. Brown. S.M.) DISCHARGED A 55-year-old social security

beneficiary who took a stolen trailer from the Aranul rubbish dump was found guilty of theft and discharged without conviction. Arnold Leslie Burnett had denied stealing the trailer, the property of Jack Wilson Sales, Ltd. John Frederick Wilson, a garage manager, told the court that he had hired the trailer for one day to a Mr May in January, 1974. The trailer had not been returned.

On June 7, 1975. a young man wanting petrol had driven into the garage towing what appeared to be the missing trailer. Mr Wilson said that the trailer had different registration plates, but he had found under the current warrant of fitness an old warrant bearing the trailer’s original registration number. He had told the driver that the trailer belonged to the garage and had uncoupled the trailer from the car. The driver had then telephoned 1 his father and Burnett had come to the garage, claiming the trailer was his.

Mr Burnett told the court that he had found the trailer at the dump about 18 months ago. Its ■tyres were nearly flat, It had a broken tailboard and a partly buckled deck and it had no registration plates,. warrant of fitness. or tail lights. About a week after he had first seen the trailer, he decided that it must have been abandoned and he had taken it home and repaired it He had later registered it in his own name. Mr Burnett said that he regularly fossicked at the dump. He had found an old warrant of fitness holder there about three weeks after taking the trailer. The holder was about two chains from where the trailer had stood. The holder had in it old warrants of fitness over which he had placed the new warrant for the trailer. PROBATION Gary Douglas McQuilkan, aged 23, a truck driver, was released on probation for 12 months when he appeared for sentence on a charge of being a rogue and vagabond in that he possessed house-breaking Implements without lawful excuse. He had previously pleaded not guilty and had been convicted. The Court had heard that on July 12 the defendant was found behind a Merivale supermarket at night, wearing gloves and with a glass-cutter in his pocket. The defendant said in evidence that he was wearing gloves because he was cold, and had put the glass-cutter in his pocket while clearing out his tool cabinet that afternoon. He had gone behind the supermarket to urinate because he had been frightened by two men in the public toilets nearby. Mr S. P. Graham said the defendant’s story, although “imperfect,” was a sufficient excuse. The defendant was of good character. and the probation report had shown that he was not the sort of person who committed burglaries.

Chess.— Only three players remained with a chance of winning the world junior chess championships at Tjentiste, Yugoslavia, after the 12th and penultimate round on Saturday. They were the Soviet master, Valery Chekhov, the thriceUnited States junior champion, Larry Christiansen, and Kuligowski, of Poland.