Supreme Court Girl’s action was ‘contemptible’

Press, 23 October 1976, Page 7

Supreme Court Girl’s action was ‘contemptible’

The action of a girl who used her position of trust in a real estate office to draw #ip a “burglar’s shopping list” of houses was described as contemptible by Mr Justice Roper in the Supreme Court yesterday. The girl, Christine Allison i Kimm, aged 18, was ordered to come up for sentence within two years if called upon and to pay $2OO towards the cost' of prosecution under the direction of 1 the probation officer. She > was charged with conspiring ; to commit burglary. | Her co-offender, Douglas Sydney Low, aged 22, was ] sentenced to three months i periodic detention and put on probation for a year on : the same charge. Evidence was given at i their trial that Kimm had t

worked as an office receptionist for a Christchurch real estate firm. She nad used the knowledge gained there to compile a list of houses for Low to burgle. The list included the homes of some of her fellow workers. Mr S. R. Maling, for Kimm, said that the probation officer’s report disclosed that she had a generous and kindly personality with a tendency “to collect lame ducks around her.” Her appearance in Court had been a great lesson to her. Mr K. N. Hampton, for Low, said that he had already spent four months in gaol awaiting trial. If put on probation he would hopefully revert to his past way of life in which he gave help and advice to Maori youths.

His Honour said that Low and Kimm were an odd sort of couple. About the only thing they had in common was arrogance and dishonest intentions. He was prepared to accept that the conspiracy was not as serious as some which came before the Court. He took into account that the list had existed for some time but there was no evidence that it had ever been used. When sentencing Kimm his Honour said: “I can only regard your action as contemptible. You have disgraced good parents as a way of repaying them for their generosity to you. Perhaps, even worse, you were prepared to throw people, who regarded you as a friend, to the wclves.”