Magistrate's Court Theft of $6l0 from school committee, Court told

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 8

Magistrate's Court Theft of $6l0 from school committee, Court told

A 26-year-old man who appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on six charges of theft was remanded to Sepi ember 8 by Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M. The man, who was granted interim suppression of name, was said to have received cheques and donations totalling $6lO which should have been paid to the Tuahiwi School Committee. The alleged thefts were committed by his failure to account for or to pay the moneys to the committee. The offences occurred at Tuahiwi between April, 1973, and March this year. No plea was entered. CARELESS DRIVING Wayne Alfred Kearney, aged 3). was convicted and fined $4OO. and disqualified from obtaining or holding a driver’s licence for 12 months. He had been charged with causing bodily harm to Keith Preen while carelessly: driving a vehicle when under the influence of drink. The accident occurred about 2 a.m. on April 8 at Belfast, involving a collision i between the vehicle driven by the defendant and a parked fire engine. The engine: had stopped to refill its water tank after having been involved in putting out a car fire. Preen, the chief station officer at St Albans, had been standing at the rear of the engine at the time. As a re-i suit of the collision his right lower leg had been almost completely severed, and he needed a further operation on it. Constable M. C. Fuller, who attended the accident, I said the fire appliance was! properly parked on the side of the road, and its parking lights were on. The street lighting in the area bad been good, and the weather was clear. He said that the defendant appeared trapped in his vehicle after his seat broke loose. He noticed a strong l

smell of alcohol, and thatj when the defendant was out of the vehicle he was un- i steady on his feet, his replies to questions were incoherent, I and his manner hostile. The Court was told chat ; the defendant said he had been drinking with friends in ’ Kaiapoi from about 7.15 p.m. to 1 a.m. He also stated he had not seen the fire engine, and that he must have fallen asleep at the wheel. UNDER AGE Mark Darryl Forrester, aged 18, a mechanic, was. convicted and fined $lO for! buying liquor while under : the age of 20. Senior Sergeant W. J. i Nichol said the defendant 'held a party for his friends , at a hall in Hornby on February 7. He bought .54 gallons of beer for it from the Hornby Trust Hotel. The Court was told that;i the liquor had been obtained! from the defendant’s father, | 1 who was an employee of the [ hotel. It was paid for “by a i hat being passed around at i the party” and the proceeds handed to his father. While the party was under :way it was invaded by gatecrashers, and considerable damage amounting to hun- j dreds of dollars was done to the hall. |1 Counsel said this happened while his client was out of 1 the hall. Since then the defendant had arranged to pay h i for the damage and had i already paid $l5O. He wasp continuing to pay at the rated of $lO a week. “I hope you have learned! your lesson,” said the Magis- ■ trate, who suggested that the-1 defendant show more respon-1 • sibility in future. H To another charge of steal- ij ing a black felt hat, valued at $2. found at the party, the! defendant was discharged . without conviction. He had’ removed the hat from a' friend and had thought it to ; be of no value. Before Mr J. S. Bisphan, S.M. i i ... - I .

PRISONER SENTENCED I ! John McKinnon Donnelly,'! aged 21, appeared for sen-! tence on charges of escaping < from custody, unlawfully taking two cars, and breaking and entering. Donnelly, who escaped i from the Magistrate’s Court: with three others on August 11 1 by throwing pepper in the!: faces of two police guards,! had previously pleaded guilty! to all charges. He was handy’ cuffed to a prison officer. ; Senior Sergeant Nichol i' said that after the escape* , Donnelly had taken a car! ’ 'from an unlocked garage in, Kilmore Street. It was re- ' covered undamaged in New! Brighton the next day. ! On August 5 ho had taken i another car from Oram Avenue, New Brighton, and this was recovered the next day in Ferry Road. On August 6, the day he was caught, )he had admitted breaking i into a dairy. | Counsel for Donnelly (Mr M. J. Glue) said that the charges arose from "survival offences” committed after the escape. Donnelly did not organise the escape, but he was impulsive and hotheaded. Mr Glue said that Don- ! nelly was articulate and intelligent, and a “cut above the people who had escaped with him.” He had been re-1 manded in custody for a long time: he knew he was! I going to prison and was ’ ianxious to begin his prison! ’term so that he could begin I rehabilitation. ! Mr Glue asked for a short ! term of imprisonment to I achieve quick rehabilitation. • He said that Donnelly would | appear soon in the Supreme I Court for sentence on a burigiary charge, and also faced another two Supreme Court I trials on other charges. The Magistrate said that Donnelly had lived a “fairly ■ torrid life” and he felt some i sympathy for him. However, 'after a period when he didi not offend, Donnelly had been [twice sentenced to prison ! for burglary last year. He I had frittered away his chances. ! Although he had not planned the escape it was ! successful, and it was DonI nelly’s fifth escape from j custody or a penal institution. ■ Donnelly was sentenced to ! nine months prison for escaping and nine months for j burglary, these two terms to i be cumulative. On the two ‘charges of unlawfully taking cars he was sentenced to : three months prison on ' each, the terms to be coni current with the previous i ( sentences, thus making an effective additional prison i term of 18 months. SCHOOLBOY ASSAULT I A series of incidents! which sounded like an “un-| provoked piece of mindless violence committed on a j

schoolboy” had a far deeper) background, said the counsel! for a 17-year-old youth’ charged with assaulting a high-school boy. The Magistrate said he would impose a lenient penalty, and the defendant was sentenced to four months I ! periodic detention and 12 months probation. Wayne Alan Blackwell, a freight checker, was appear-) ing for sentence on a charge’ iof assaulting the schoolboy : on August 11. The Court had previously [been told that the boy had ’been assaulted three times) |by the defendant and a * friend as the boy was walk-1 ing home. He had been fol- i [lowed and chased by the’ two older youths who were in a car. Mr D. M. Palmer said that the schoolboy was not unknown to violence, and in two of the three assault incidents the schoolboy had struck first. The schoolboy had also telephoned the defendant, his girlfriend, and other people, and told them he would beat up the defendant. He had been threatening the defendant for some time, said Mr Palmer, and the defendant s"spected the schoolboy was after his girlfriend. On the day when the three assaults took place the schoolboy had initiated them ’by insulting the defendant | with bad language, and then ’had thrown the first punch.) Mr Palmer said the! schoolboy “got just about! what he asked for,” The defendant had been associated with a group of youths, and when a fight developed at parties, one of them, who was considerably larger than the rest, took over the fight while the others looked on. This helped create ill-feeling towards his client from a number of persons, said Mr ! Palmer. j This violence had also spilled over to the defendant’s home. When the defendant’s younger brother had opened the door late at night a man stepped in and “began clobbering my client’s younger brother.” Threatening phone calls had been intercepted by the defendant’s mother, and his parents had asked for an unlisted telephone number and had considered moving out of Christchurch. His parents were very concerned for him, said Mr Palmer, and a sentence of periodic detention would! keep him away from bad | company while allowing him) to remain in the community. - I The Magistrate told Black-] j well that his co-offender had' “missed imprisonment by ■ i the skin of his teeth, and I vou missed detention centre by the same margin.” The 1 co-offender had previously been sentenced to six I months periodic detention.