The Courts Additional charges against four prison escapers

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 4

The Courts Additional charges against four prison escapers

There was again heavy- se-j icurity at the Magistrate's i Court yesterday when the four men who escaped fnom Addington Prison on lhe [evening of August 18 reappeared to face six additional I charges laid against each of [them. Before Mr J. S. Bisphan, S.M., were Larry Hemi Matthews, aged 27; Philip Ross Frewen, aged 29; Joseph James Ward, aged 24; ar»d Maurice Houkamau. aged 3T,. Each was handcuffed to a policeman. i All four were remanded inj custody to September 29 forp the taking of depositions. [' When the lour first ap-i> peared before the Magistrate'; last week they each faced! charges of escaping from the! Addington Prison while law-! [fully detained there and [I [causing grievous bodily [I harm to Peter Crichton, a < [prison officer. [• Six additional charges It [were laid against each! defendant yesterday. These [1 [involving breaking from the < penal institution with the in- | tent to set themselves free J and assaulting four other, warders. i ROBBERY CHARGE < Two men who each ap- * peared charged with injuring U with intent and robbery! were further remanded in 1 custody. It

j They are Brent Rory Coulston, aged 21, a freezing) worker, and Wayne Markj Tonihi, aged 20, a forestry j worker. They entered no plea. Each was charged that* with intent to cause griev-l ous bodily harm to Eric Joseph. Waszcak they injured him; that with intent to) cause grievous bodily harm to David John Hart they injured him; and that together! i they robbed Mr Hart of i $350. . Tonihi was remanded to jSeptember 2, when it is ex- i 'nected a plea will be made,! :\vhile Coulston was re-i in.ianded to September 14 for! 7 lie taking of depositions. ) “TEMPORARY INSANITY” 'J.arry Thomas Geeson, a, (prison inmate, gave “tempo tary insanity” as the ex-1 [custe why he burgled an! Opabva Road dairy on Aug-) ust A[ Bpearing in the dock) handcuffed to a constable,! Geeson told the Magistratei he did not want legal aid as) he aHready had a lawyer.! Asked if he had made any. attempt to see his counsel.) Geeson said he had not, as) he was. “locked up” 24 hours; a day. The Magistrate remanded[ him to September 8 for the) taking of depositions but!

Sergeant > R. H. P routing llater learned that Geeson’s) counsel was ill and so the; ! remand date was changed to) September* 2. THEFT-OF BICYCLES Kristopher David Gibson,; aged 22. vias sentenced toj (six months jail on charges' [of breaking and entering a (shed and taking two racing bicycles earlier this month,. ! Gibson, who pleaded guilty, gave as his reason “a desperate financial 1 situ-) ation.” : The Magistrate \«as told that about midnight on July .121, with? an accomplice Gib[son drov<e to an addlress at )the rear of which was a [shed housing two racing 'cycles. The shed was broken [into and the two cycles sboilen. Next day one of tlhe cycles was* sold for 3120 amd I later the second cycle was Isold for a' similar amount. [The proceeds from both i sales were shared betwteen I the co-offenders. j On the night of August 6, ! [the two drone to the adctress i of the persctn to whom the [first cycle hrtd been sold and jit was again* stolen anc£ re-J Isold for $9O. I The Magistrate said he originally had had in mimd a [sentence of periodic deten-j [tion but noted that the [defendant had previous con-!

victions for burglary and attempted burglary for which' [periodic detention had al-[ 'lready been imposed. (Before Mr F. G. Paterson,! S.M.) “STAIR-DANCING” * The number of “stair!dancing” offences in Christ-) church had reached frightening proportions, the) Magistrate told a youth aged 1 15 when he sentenced him to Borstal training for the [offence. j “Stair-dancing,” or stealing from cloakrooms and; offices in office blocks and from hotel rooms, was a prevalent offence in Christchurch the Magistrate said, lit seemed that it was an offence committed exclusively by young persons. The defendant had earlier ! been convicted on four charges of theft, one of assault, and one of breach of probation during January i and May. He had stolen [5477, mainly in cash, none 'of which had been recovered, the Magistrate said. I “I am certain you require) disciplined training within, lan institutionalised setting,” ! he told the defendant. The youth had been of-) fending in “quite a serious) [way” since 1976, and al-| [ready had two convictions I for burglary.