The courts S.I. BURGLARIES BY 'PROFESSIONALS'

Press, 3 August 1976, Page 7

The courts S.I. BURGLARIES BY 'PROFESSIONALS'

Three professional criminals had travelled round the South Island committing burglaries ( and disposing of the goods to professional re- ; ceivers, Detective-Ser- j geant J. C. Crookston told the Magistrate’s ] Court yesterday. The three men — Jason | Steven Healey, aged 24, Michael Norman Whaitiri, aged I 123, and Peter John Castle, aged 26 — all unemployed, (were appearing jointly (charged with committing I burglaries in Timaru, Grey(mouth, and Invercargill. Castle and Whaitiri each pleaded guilty to three charges of burglary and Healey pleaded guilty to four charges of burglary and one charge of theft. They were all remanded in custody to August 9 for sentence by Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M. Detective Sergeant Crookston said that early in July the three defendants had been in Invercargill and had broken into the Courtville Place Coffee Lounge in Dee Street, and taken a calculator worth $ll9. At Greymouth, they had smashed the front door to gain entry to Beck Electronics, Limited, in Albert Street, and had taken a colour television set, a stereo set, and other items, worth a total of $2251. In Timaru, the three had burgled Charles Plaza Sound Centre and had taken cassettes, tape recorders and other items, worth $9OO. The property taken in the Greymouth burglary had been disposed of to professional receivers, and had not been recovered, Detective Sergeant Crookston said.

Compensation of $2251 was i sought. ’ Detective Sergeant Crookston said that in each burglary, Castle had driven his car 1 to the scene and waited out- . side in it, keeping watch, t while the other two had 1 broken into the shops. I The three men had been 1 picked up in Ashburton when spoken to by the local police t and their car had been i searched. At first, the three defend- l ants had said that they had ’ bought the goods off a seaman, but later they had ad- i mitted their part in the burg- • laries. i FALSE PRETENCE 1 After pleading guilty to 22 1 charges, 19 of them of false ' pretences, Brian Desmond Marsh, aged 23, unemployed, 1 was remanded in custody to 1 July 9. ’ Detective Sergeant Crook-' ston said that the defendant ' had entered a Southbrook re- ■ sidence, taking a radio and a 1 cheque book belonging to the Southbrook pool club. 1 The defendant had pre- 1 sented eight of those cheques, 1 obtaining goods and cash ' worth $257. He had later stolen another ' cheque book from a car in a 1 hotel car park. ' The police asked for $143 compensation for goods purchased by the defendant with the cheque book. Further, on July 10, the de- , fendant burgled a city flat, , stealing another cheque book. . He cashed six cheques from , that book. When questioned by the , police the defendant said that he considered cashing false , cheques an easy way of making money. OILED ROADS Two youths had poured i about half a gallon of diesoline on the Mid-Lincoln Road i so that cars could do wheel

spins on the road, the Court was told. Peter Bruce I.indbom, aged 17, a factory hand, pleaded guilty to a charge that on June 27, in a manner likely to cause danger to property, he intentionally poured diesoline on to the roadway at Mid-Lincoln Road. He was convicted and remanded for a week for reports and sentence. A warrant was issued for the arrest of his co-offender, who failed to appear in court. Detective Sergeant Crookston said that at 9.20 p.m. on June 26, Lindborn and his cooffender had taken a can of diesoline out of the back of their car and had poured it on to the road. The diesoline had made the surface of the road very slippery. A police vehicle, called to the scene, had skidded on the surface, as had a number of other cars using the road. A serious accident could easily have been caused. When remanding Lindborn for sentence, the Magistrate said that the offence was a major matter under the Crimes Act, and he ordered; Lindborn to be medically examined with a view to a sentence of detention centre training. Before Mr N. L. Bradford, S.M. IMPRISONMENT A youth who stole a $6000! truck from Ashburton then' drove it to Queenstown and stole more than $2OOO. worth of goods and petrol, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. Donald John Fox, aged 17, unemployed, had pleaded guilty to three charges each of burglary and theft and one each of wilful damage and conversion. Counsel (Mr K. J. Osborne) said that the defendant’s serious campaign of offend-

ing had occurred only a short time after his release from eight months and a half in Borstal. The defendant had said that Borstal had done nothing for him. He had wanted to do a correspondence course to train to be a chef, Mr Osborne said. “Borstal has a dubious reform value at the best of times,” Mr Osborne said. “Penologists would not agree with you, but that is a view I accept,” the Magistrate said.

Before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M. BURGLARY CHARGES Two men were each sentenced to three months periodic detention and put on probation for 12 months when they appeared for sentence on two charges. They are Graeme Ross Tibbetts, aged 20, a process worker, and Paul Joseph Tait, aged 19, a storeman. Both had pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary and unlawfully taking a truck, but had been convicted by ; the Magistrate a fortnight ago.

The Magistrate rejected allegations by the two defendants that they had been punched by the police, and that statements had been obtained from them under duress.

The Court had heard that (Tibbotts and Tait had broken into the warehouse of W.

Watkins, Ltd, in Carlyle Street on Mayy 11. On the same night, a Thames Trader truck, valued at $2500, had been stolen from A. M. Rhodes, Ltd. The defendants had been arrested later that morning. Mr P. G. Bensemann (for Tibbotts) and Mr M. J. Glue (for Tait) submitted that periodic detention was an appropriate sentence for both men.