The courts Man, 60, charged with attempted murder

Press, 9 May 1978, Page 12

The courts Man, 60, charged with attempted murder

A concrete worker facing a charge of attempted murder was remanded in custody to May 22 by Mr K. W. Frampton, S.M., when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

No plea was entered by Ressi Josiekawa Travino Kawalinias-Marafiaano, aged 60, who was charged with attempting to murder Kathleen Elizabeth Ann Hunsche in Christchurch last Friday. The defendant was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination. ARSON CHARGE A psychiatric report was also sought by the Magistrate on a man charged with wilfully setting fire to a house in Havelock Street, Ashburton, on Sunday. The man, aged 22, had his name suppressed in the interim. He was remanded in custody to May 22 to appear in the Ashburton Magistrate’s Court. The Court was told that there was a domestic background to the offence. FALSE PRETENCE Goods to a value of $558 were obtained by a youth who used cheques taken from a cheque book stolen

from a day-care clinic at i Sunnyside Hospital. Maurice William Pugh, aged 19, pleaded guilty to eight charges of false pretence and one of attempted false pretence. Pugh had

used the cheques to obtain food, air tickets, and clothing , said Sergeant K. J. Hurndell. When apprehended by the police, while attempting to cash one of the cheques at New Brighton on April 22, the defendant had said he had been given the cheques by an associate and that he had thought it an easy way to obtain food and clothing. Compensation of $278 was sought from Pugh as his share of the proceeds. Pugh was remanded in custody to May 15 for a probation officer’s report and sentence.

RECEIVED JEWELLERY Neil Andrew Torrance, aged 22, an engineer, had told the police that of jewellery valued at $BOO he was charged with receiving a ring that had been given to a Christchurch solicitor as security on an outstanding debt.

Sergeant Hurndell said that the solicitor had be-

come suspicious and had contacted the police. Most of the jewellery had not been recovered.

The jewellery and a pocket calculator had been taken from a house in Cambridge Terrace which had been burgled. On the night of March 28 the defendant had been spoken to in Cathedral Square by two girls to whom he had given some of the jewellery, said Sergeant Hurndell.

In addition to the receiving charge, Torrance also pleaded guilty to two charges of unlawfully taking vehicles in Dunedin and in Christchurch.

Compensation of $625 was sought.

Torrance was remanded in custody to May 15 for a probation officer’s report and sentence. FALSE PRETENCE

A youth who obtained cash and groceries valued at $483 by using stolen cheques was convicted and remanded to May 15 for a probation officer’s report and sentence. Brent Smitheran, aged 17, unemployed, pleaded guilty to seven charges of false pretence. He had told the police he had been given seven cheques by an assocL ate.

He had presented these in Christchurch shops during January to obtain groceries and cash. The cash he had given to his associate. Compensation of $483 was sought. 33 CHARGES A Bench warrant was issued for the arrest of a builder’s labourer after his non-appearance in court to face 33 charges involving $4500. Brian Alan Bolt, aged 23, was to have faced 14 new charges in addition to 19 with which he was charged last week. The charges involve theft, false pretence, forgery, and purporting to be a security guard when not licenced as one. SMUGGLING CHARGE

John Lancelot Wooles, aged 37, unemployed, was remanded without plea to May 16 when he appeared on a charge of taking wine into Paparua Prison without authority to do so on April 29. COUPLE CONVICTED A husband and wife who together faced seven charges were each ' convicted and placed on probation for 18 months and ordered to make compensation of $l6OO when they appeared for sentence. Graham John Brough and Vicky Charlotte Brough, aged 24, had each pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining money by false pretence, two of theft, one of burglary, and one of attempted false pretence. The offences involved cash and property valued about $2500. The false pretence charges involved sums of money obtained by using a cheque book which had been stolen from a car at the Addington Raceway. The burglary had been committed at an unlocked property from where goods valued at $595 had been taken.

Detective Sergeant J. J. Chadderton said that some of the money had been used for household expenses and a $lOOO car had been bought. Counsel (Mr G. M. Brodie) said that the vehicle had since been resold to a dealer and that his clients had lost $5OO in the deal. They had since obtained a smaller car partly with the proceeds of their original car and partly on hire-purchase. The Magistrate said that the offences had not been committed on impulse. It was with “some reluctance” that he placed the defendants on probation. (Before Mr B. A< Palmer, S.M.) SENT TO BORSTAL Borstal training was the only realistic sentence for

two youths convicted of a total of 37 charges of car conversion and burglary, said the Magistrate. He told Rick Heritage and John Richard Taylor, both aged 17, that damage estimated at $l4OO had been caused to five of the 15 cars they had converted. The charges were serious and numerous and some of the victims might not be able to recover the cost of the damage.

Car conversions were “a truly epidemic type of offence” and the sentences imposed by the courts seemed to be doing little to stop a repetition of these sorts of offences.

Although it was Taylor who had a set of 21 keys which had been used for car conversion, each defendant lacked a sense of selfdiscipline and purpose. Last week, Taylor admitted 15 charges of car conversion and four charges of burglary and Heritage pleaded guilty to 14 charges of car conversion and four charges of burglary.

Counsel (Mr P. M. James) said that both youths denied that they had intended to play “demolition derby” as was mentioned in the police statement of facts. The number of offences was large but they had all occurred within seven days. Both youths had had time on their hands because they were unemployed. Until the offences, they had had a blameless record. ROGUE AND VAGABOND

An unemployed man told the Court that he tried car doors in a Christchurch car park because he was hallucinating on beer and cough mixture and wanted a place to sleep. Michael Eric Clark, aged 29, denied being a rogue and vagabond in that he frequented the Carlton Hotel car park with felonious intent while being a suspected person.

Kevin Halley, a land developer and Justice of the Peace, said that he had noticed a figure moving rapidly from car to car trying doors in the car park at 9.10 p.m. on March 30. When he had seen the person trying the door of his car,, he had gone into the hotel and had asked an employee to accompany him.

He had returned to the car park and had noticed the same person still going from car to car. When he had approached him, the man had said that he was looking for his friend’s car. Witness had asked if the car was the one they were beside and the accused could not confirm this. He had then asked the man to sit in the car and wait until the police arrived. To counsel (Mr D. J. Maze) witness said that although the defendant had walked with a determined air, he had not been very coherent and his speech had been slurred. Constable S. S. Mills said that he had questioned Clark in the car park. The defendant had told him he was looking for his friend’s car but was having difficulty finding it. Clark told the Court that he had been drinking at hotels since 11.30 a.m. While he was at the Carlton Hotel in the evening he was approached by a friend. He had become tired and had gone to have a sleep in his friend’s car. The defendant said that he was an alcoholic. He had been drinking beer and cough mixture that day and was partially hallucinating as a result.

“I could have actually tried a hundred cars: I don’t know,” he said. The Magistrate dismissed Clark’s evidence as a “tissue of lies" and convicted and remanded him on bail to May 15 for a probation officer’s report and sentence.