SUPREME COURT Youths who robbed hotel ‘lived in fantasy’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33958, 26 September 1975, Page 11

SUPREME COURT Youths who robbed hotel ‘lived in fantasy’

Two youths who committed an armed robbery at the White Heron Travel Lodge while wearing crash helmets and stockings over their faces, were described yesterday in the Supreme Court as living in a world of fantasy.

The youths, Maurice John Dando, aged 19, unemployed, and Dean James Crariefield, aged 18, a trainee pastry cook, were gaoled for three years and a half by Mr Justice Casey on a charge of aggravated robbery when $BOOO was stolen from the hotel on July 10.

Mr D. H. P. Dawson, for Cranefleld, said that the offence could not be minimised and he appreciated the need for a deterrent sentence. But when the whole episode was looked at in perspective it was not a case for such a sentence.

Dando, unlike many other persons who came before the Court, did not have anything in his home background which would explain the offence. His family was reasonably stable. Since his return from Invercargill, Dando had been at home for three months, out of work, and he renewed his friendship with Cranefield. The two of them spent a lot of time together and they indulged in exploits of fantasy. Tattoo removal After seeing “Kung Fu” on television, Dando decided to become an expert in the art, but he gave it up after attending only two lessons. Then he decided to be a boxer and gave exaggerated accounts of how good he was going to be, but ,he never took any lessons. At one stage they bought a race horse for $250 and had visions of the large amount of money they were going to make from it, but it was never properly trained. Despite his lack of educational qualifications, Dando decided that he wanted to do clerical work. Because he could not get such a job he took the view that it was due to the tattoos he had on his arms. Then he had a vision of going to the United States to have them removed. He needed money for that, and that was how the offence arose.

The whole episode was another of the fantasies of the two prisoners; only this time they mixed fantasy with reality and actually carried out one of their grandiose schemes. “This is not a case of two hardened professional criminals embarking on a skilful robbery, but two immature youths big-talking themselves into something neither of them really wanted to do, and Who did not have

the courage to back down. From that pathetic beginning the scheme born of bragging and bravado came into reality,” Mr Dawson said. Although a gun was used, it was not a brutal robbery. They showed remarkable consideration for their victims. They made sure that the tape did not cover their noses so that they could breathe. Before they put a sock in the mouth of the girl to gag her they had a discussion as to whether it was clean or not and they eventually decided to use something else which was clean. “Too much TV” When Dando returned home after the robbery, he went to bed but he could not sleep because he was too scared. In a statement Dando said: “I couldn’t believe that we’d done it. It didn’t seem real, but like a dream.”

The whole episode was aptly summed up by a prison officer who said: “The silly young fools have been watching too much television.” It would be to the detriment of both Dando, an impressionable, immature youth, and society if he was sent to prison where he would mix with adult prisoners. What he needed was to be sent to Borstal, where he could be helped to grow up, said Mr Dawson. Mr K. N. Hampton, for Cranefield, said the evidence showed that Dando had been the ringleader. It was he

who had obtained all the equipment —gloves, masks, tape, ammunition, and motor-cycle — which were used.

Dando had been talking about doing a job with a firearm and he had had the idea of getting a replica pistol. Cranefield had said that Dando had tried to talk him into snatching a payroll as it was taken from the bank. It was Dando who had suggested that they rob the White Heron Lodge because Cranefield had worked there, and it was Dando who needed the money to go to the United States. O n two occasions Cranefield had wanted to call the robbery off, but Dando had persuaded him to go through with it.

Immaturity

Cranefield was going to plead guilty in the Magistrate’s Court to three offences, and he had had some appearances in the Children’s Court for attentiongetting offences. He was a youth who had some achievements, especially in the sporting field. He had represented both his province and New Zealand in one sport and he had shown an interest in trotting. Although he was above average intelligence Cranefield’s emotional development had not kept up with his physical development. The matter which had caused both counsel and the Court the gravest concern was the fact that a firearm had been used in the robbery, said his Honour. ,He had listened with care to the very responsible submissions from both counsel and their plea that the offence be dealt with by Borstal training, but the Court could not possibly consider any other but imprisonment for an offence of such gravity. “This was an audacious

and well-planned robbery by two young men, and your intelligence and your background makes it clear that you knew perfectly well and appreciated the seriousness of what you were embarking upon,” his Honour said.

“Not influenced”

“It is distressing for the Court to have to deal with young persons of such background and good attainments, and particularly you Cranefield with the letters which have been sent in from teachers, friends and others who have known you in the past and which have been referred to me by your counsel.

“Unfortunately, the disclosure of your subsequent criminal activities makes it very difficult for me to accept Mr Hampton’s submission that on this occasion you were really led into the commission of the offence by Dando,” said his Honour.

“I have had the advantage of hearing evidence from the parties at the hotel who were victims of your robbery, and I am satisfied, against the whole background and careful planning that this incident obviously required, that you were both very much in it together and I can see no reason for making any distinction in your responsibility.

“I am prepared to accept what counsel have told me about the life of fantasy you both have been leading over the past few months and I take this into account. While it can explain in some way why you undertook this violent or potentially-violent criminal activity it certainly cannot excuse it,” said his Honour.

A sentence of five years imprisonment would not be inappropriate for a robbery of this character because not only was punishment required for the offenders, but the condemnation of the

Court had also to be known and be made well known to others of like mind in cases where firearms were involved. . The minimum sentence he could impose was three years and a half, his Honour said. Concurrent term When Cranefield appeared before Mr E. S. J, Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court later in the day he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment on two charges of burglary and one of receiving, the term to be served concurrently with the sentence imposed in the Supreme Court. Senior-Sergeant N. W. Mcßae said that on May 28, two saddles and a cover, of a total value of $505, were taken from a Prebbleton shed. The property belonged to Alexander French.

At 3.30 p.m. the same day the defendant sold one of the saddles for $BO. He told the police that another person had given him the saddle and horse cover.

When the police interviewed that person on August 19 he denied all knowledge of the saddles and said he did not know the defendant.

The police again interviewed the defendant and he told them he had been afraid to give the name of the person who had given him the stolen property. He admitted also being involved in two burglaries.

The first burglary was of the Templeton home of Colleen Mary Wood. Entry was gained through a rear window and a colour television set, valued at $B4O, was taken. The set was later sold.

The other burglary was of the West Melton home of Maurice Patrick O’Leary. Four new tyres and liquor, of a total value- of $2OB, were stolen.

Compensation of over $llOO was sought.