Youth stripped bike

Press, 23 October 1976, Page 6

Youth stripped bike

A youth stole a $350 motorcycle from outside a house near where he lived and stripped it down, the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court was told yesterday. He used the parts to repair his own motor-cycle so he could sell it, Mr H. J. Evans, S.M., heard. Peter Maurice Legge, aged 18, an unemployed factory hand, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a 1973 Suzuki 90 cu.cm motor-cycle on March 27. He was convicted and remanded to November 1 for sentence.

Sergeant J. R. Palmer said that the motor-cycle was stolen from outside a house in Quinns Road and was found stripped not far away. The petrol tank, seat, handle bars, and gear lever worth a total of $l5O were missing.

Legge admitted stealing the motor-cycle and stripping it down. He said that he had used the parts to fix his own motor-cycle, so he could sell it. There was no chance of recovering these parts and compensation of $l5O was sought. Legge also pleaded guilty to a charge of burgling Rodds Butchery, Ltd, in Bower Avenue on May 7. A total of $350 cash was taken in the burglary. This money was split three ways with ' Legge’s two cooffenders, Sergeant Palmer said.

HANDBAG SNATCHED

A youth who snatched a handbag from a woman lying on the riverbank in the

Botanic Gardens on Thursday afternoon got no furthen than 100 yards before he was caught, the Court heard. Leslie Alexander Jordan, aged 18, unemployed, pleaded guilty to stealing a handbag and contents, worth $6l, the property of Clover Ellwood Mackinder. He was convicted and remanded to November 1 for sentence. Sergeant Gibson said that at 1.30 p.m. Jordan approached a woman lying on the riverbank in the gardens. He grabbed her handbag and ran off into the bushes. The woman called out for help and the youth was apprehended with the bag. His explanation to the police was that he was out of work and needed the money to live. VAGRANTS SENTENCED William Joseph Hohepa had been out of trouble for four months after his release from prison. For him, this was a real effort, counsel (Mrs J. Anderson) told the Court. “The defendant is really proud of this effort,” Mrs Anderson said. Hohepa was appearing for sentence on a charge of vagrancy and a charge of unlawfully getting into a Customs Department car worth $5500. He also pleaded guilty to three other charges — one of unlawfully taking a car worth $250 on October 4;i one of behaving offensively; ■in the Square on October 12;I ;and one of being idle and I disorderly on October 16. , Hohepa was put on probation for a year with a spe-

cial condition that he be admitted to Sunnyside Hospital.

The defendant was found sitting in a Customs Department car late at night on October 15 in a yard in Worcester Street where the car was kept. Alfred Rewi Keating, aged 24, unemployed, who was also found in the car with Hohepa was placed on 18 months probation and ordered to live and work at the Salvation Army Hostel and centre in Poulsen Street. Keating had pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully getting into the car, vagrancy and wilfully damaging three windows of trucks belonging to the Ministry of Works. Of the charges to which Hohepa pleaded guilty yesterday, Sergeant Rowe said that on October, 5, the complainant reported her car missing. Two days later, her father had spotted the car being driven in town. He followed it and saw the defendant park it and get out. The number plates had been changed. The girl’s father followed the defendant on foot to a city hotel while her mother went to the police. On October 12 at 10.30 p.m., the defendant was seen urinating outside Warner’s Hotel near the pedestrian crossing. There were several people in the area. In explanation the defendant said that he “could not wait.” On October 16, at 4 a.m., ;the defendant was seen lying on the ground in a travel agency doorway on Linwood Avenue. When spoken to bv the police he said that, if arrested, at least he would have somewhere to sleep.