Prison terms for attack on constable

Press, 23 July 1976, Page 3

Prison terms for attack on constable

Two men were sentenced to prison terms when they appeared before Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M.. in the Magistrate’s Court at Timaru yesterday on eight charges of burglary, one of possession by night of instruments of burglary, and one of aggravated assault on a police constable. They are Norman Wilson, aged 38, a butcher, of Kaiapoi. and Stuart Robinson, aged 42, unemployed, of Rangiora (Mr M. J. Green for both), who each had pleaded guilty on all counts. Wilson was sentenced to two years imprisonment on the assault charge, with 18 months imprisonment, cumulative, on the charges of burglary, and on the possession charge to six months imprisonment. concurrent, a total of three years and a half. Robinson was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on the assault charge, with 18 months imprisonment, cumulative, on the charge of burglary and six months imprisonment, concurrent, on the possession charge, a total of three years. The two men had assaulted the constable in charge at Lake Tekapo on June 30 and before this had committed eight burglaries throughout the South Island, involving cash and goods of a total of more than $5OOO. After the assault, they had been chased in a car for several miles by a local resident and were seen to throw

a bag from their vehicle. The bag was later found to contain sticks of gelignite and six detonators and a fuse. The police summary' of fact had said that as the constable lay on the ground he was kicked about the head and body by both men, who were wearing heavy boots. Mr Green criticised the summary’. The defendants, he said, accepted that the constable had been attacked, but said they were both wearing light shoes on the night of the offence. Sergeant R. J. Laredo, for the police, offered to call evidence to prove the facts given in the police summary. The Magistrate said that this was unnecessary and unlikely to have an effect on his sentence. The offences, he said, were not a drunken lapse but an effort to profit at the expense of others. Quite substantial amounts of property were involved.

“In a clumsy effort to avoid detection, you viciously and brutally beat up a constable in a country district,” he told the defendants. “Despite your apparent respectability, there is no way I could be persuaded that there should not be a custodial sentence.” The defendant Wilson would receive a longer term, he said, as he was considered the initiator of the assault on the constable.