Periodic detention on seven charges

Press, 19 June 1976, Page 4

Periodic detention on seven charges

Patrick Poutu, aged 25, | unemployed, was sentenced! by Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, ( S.M., in the Magistrate’s [ Court yesterday to periodic [ detention for eight months, [ with a term of 18 months [ probation, having earlier [ been convicted on seven [ charges. These comprised two of l theft, one of unlawfully get-[ ting into a car, two of driv- [ ing with an excess blood-[ alcohol concentration, one [ of driving when forbidden to[ do so, and one of unlawful; sexual intercourse. [ A special condition of pro- : bation is that the defendant; attend treatment and coun-l selling on the use of alcohol. On the two blood-alcohol [ offences the defendant was disqualified from driving for 18 months. He was also ordered to pay $2O compensation for the theft of a motor mower. Mr A. K. Grant for the [defendant, said the case was [before the court on April 15. A period of periodic deten-[ tion was then to be imposed,! but the defendant had subsequently committed a number of other offences. The Magistrate said it was a question whether the Court should send the defendant back to prison; but periodic detention would be imposed, as that was what the defendant had been led to believe would be the sentence. (Before Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M.) CANNABIS CHARGE John Mouka Tuuta, aged! 19, unemployed, who planted

ifive cannabis seeds in the [Rangiora riverbed “out of (botanical curiosity” was [convicted and fined $75 for [ cultivating cannabis, having [pleaded guilty. Sergeant D. J. Gibson said ■ that on June 10, a police patrol had stopped the defendant in his car on (Blighs Road and had found I cannabis plants, one 4in [high and the other, 2in, [growing in coffee mugs in [the car’s boot. •1 Mrs J. Anderson, for the[ ( defendant, said he had cultivated the plants “more out [of botanical curiosity than anything else.” There had [been no sinister motive. He [had got five seeds from a I [friend at a party, and had > planted them in the riverbed • simply to see if they would > grow. He later found that - only two seeds had germii nated, and transferred the two plants to coffee mugs to II take them to a warmer dplace. . . [ The Magistrate said that

[however innocent the motive, cannabis was a drug classified illegal by people who knew a great deal more about the matter than the defendant. FALSE ALARM [ Eran Patricia Ringdale, aged 20, unemployed, who on a “dare” from a friend gave the Christchurch Fire Brigade a false alarm was convicted after pleading guilty and fined $5O. Sergeant D. J. Gibson said that the defendant had telephoned the fire brigade at 11.30 p.m. on April 21 and said that there was a fire in a kitchen in a flat in Geraldine Street. The brigade sent two[ engines to the address but[ found no fire. The cost of[ sending the engines was! $lO5.

Counsel said that the defendant had telephoned the brigade on a “dare” from a flatmate who did not like the people at the Geraldine street address. She had telephoned the brigade soon after to explain that it was a false call, but but was told that the police i had already been notified. : ASSAULT ON BARMAN Geoffrey Kennington, aged [2.3, a blocklayer, who struck a barman in a hotel because [he was refused a drink, was [convicted and fined $BO on a charge of assault. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, which arose from an incident at the Bush Inn Hotel on June 17. Sergeant D. J. Gibson said the defendant had been warned after being at the hotel for three hours that he could only have three more drinks. When refused any more liquor, he struck the barman on the head. The Magistrate ordered that $25 of the fine be paid to the complainant.

(Before Mr B. A. Palmer, S.M.) SUPPRESSION LIFTED An order for the lifting of the suppression of a defendant’s name before conviction was made by the Magistrate in a case involving alleged possession of heroin. The defendant is Anthony George Mauger, who was to have appeared yesterday but did not arrive at the court. The order for publication of his name was made at the request of his counsel, Mr C. A. McVeigh, who had been told that his client had left New Zealand. The Magistrate made the order under section 14 of the Criminal Justice Amendment Act, pertaining to the publication of names irr criminal proceedings. He also issued a Bench warrant for the defendant’s arrest. FAILED TO STOP

A bus driver, lan Maurice Rendell, who had been convicted on three related traffic offences was fined $3OO, sentenced to three months periodic detention, and disqualified from driving for two vears.

The defendant has previously pleaded guilty to the charges, which arose from a traffic accident on March 18. The defendant was convicted on charges of failing to stop after an accident, failing to ascertain whether any person had been injured, and driving with an excess bloodalcohol concentration — 335 mg per 100 ml of blood. On the first charge, he was convicted and discharged; on the second, fined $300; and [on the third, sentenced to ■ three months periodic deten- [ tion. [ He was disqualified for two [years concurrently in respect [of each conviction. (Before Mr P. L. Molineaux, S.M.) BURGLARY CHARGE Eric William Zwarst, aged 17, was ordered to do 100 hours of community work, and put on 18 months probation, when sentenced on four charges. The defendant had been convicted on one charge of [burglary, one of behaving in ■a disorderly manner, one of [unlawfully getting into a car. (and one of failing to report ■for periodic detention. Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon, for [the defendant, said he had [suffered brain damage at [birth and was of very limited [intelligence. He had become rejected within his family, and had been a “borderline case” as regards fitness to plead. The Magistrate said that in different circumstances the defendant would probably have been sentenced to a period in a detention centre, but in view of his circumstances this might have made it even more difficult for him to adjust to society.