Meat received by butcher

Press, 26 May 1977, Page 7

Meat received by butcher

A man seen by the police throwing T-bone, rib-eye, and Hawaiian steaks and pork chops into a creek at the rear of the Ruapuna Raceway at Templeton was sentenced to six months periodic detention by Mr Justice Casey in the Supreme Court yesterday. John Leonard Jarvis, aged 28, a butcher, had pleaded guilty on arraignment to a charge of receiving from Kenneth Sydney Johns, his brother-in-law, meat valued at $4802 on December 14, when he knew it had been stolen. Evidence was given at the taking of depositions in the Magistrate’s Court that meat valued at $4802 was stolen from the premises of Shackle Meats, in Lichfield Street, on the night of December 13. A station waggon was followed by the police to the rear of the Ruapuna Raceway, where two men were seen throwing meat into a ditch. As the police car approached the two men leaped into the vehicle and made off. The other man was driving, and Jarvis was in the passenger’s seat. During the high-speed

chase which followed, the station waggon drove across the centre of the roundabout at Sockburn to beat a police roadblock. The vehicle was later abandoned in Middleton Road. The other man made off and was later arrested, and Jarvis was apprehended by the police while still in th’e vehicle. Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon, for the prisoner, said that Jarvis denied any connection with the burglary in which the meat was stolen. He was led into the offence by Johns, his brother-in-law, who was now in jail and who had many previous convictions. Jarvis merely helped Johns dispose of the meat, which had begun to thaw. He had spent 12 days in custody, and gained nothing from the offence. His Honour said that ‘he prime mover in the crime was Jarvis’s brother-in-law, Johns, who had led him mco trouble on a previous occasion. Jarvis had a stable family life, and had a good 'probation officer’s report. He would be treated leniently, and it was hoped that he would not fall into temptation again.