Judge to sum up in robbery case

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 7

Judge to sum up in robbery case

The courts

An elderly man was beaten up by a man he’ found raiding the refrigerator in his flat, Mr Justice Toper and a jury were told m the Supreme Court yesterday. William Wati Makiri, aged 44. a shearer, has pleaded not guilty to charges of robbing Walter Sydney Boese of two sausages, valued at 20c and of unlawfully entering the house of.

Vivienne Ruth Straight on January 31 with intent to commit a crime. His Honour will sum up this morning. Mr N. W. Williamson ap- : pears for the Crown and Mr; G. H. Nation for Makiri, whoi pleaded not guilty to both; charges. The defence called no! evidence. ! Opening the Crown’s; case, Mr Williamson said!

i that on the evening of] > January 31 two persons 1 who lived near the Star and, i Garter Hotel had the un-; nerving experience of finding! • strange men in their homes.; • One. a young married! i; woman, Mrs Straight, was| i'shelling peas and listening to; .the radio in her lounge when! i'she became aware of twoj 'men standing in the hall.; ;jOne of the men, Makiri,; I!asked her for a drink of'

water and uninvited the two 'men sat down. Makiri followed her into the kitchen, i opened the refrigerator and I took out a bottle of beer. He > later offered to pay for it. ! Soon after, about a block I away, Mr Boese returned to I his flat in Kilmore Street land found a Maori man lookling in his refrigerator. When Ihe asked the man what he! 'thought he was doing, the |man attacked Mr Boese and knocked him down. Mr; Boese recovered in hospital. On returning home, he found a plastic basin of meat had been stolen. Mr Boese owned the sausages, and the other meat was the property of other tenants jn the building, Mr Williamson said. Vivienne Ruth Straight, a housewife, said that .early on the evening of January 31 she was in her lounge she!-! ling peas while her husband! was at cricket practice. It! was hot weather and the front door was open. On hearing a noise, she looked up and saw two strange men in the hall. They came into the lounge uninvited and made themselves at home. One of the men, Makiri, asked for a drink and she got two• glasses of water. The two men talked about the Epitaph Riders and motor-cycle gangs in general. She was not sure what she should do.

Makiri had said that he wanted something to eat. He walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took out a bottle of beer which he offered to pay for. “I suppose I was fairly cool at the time, but underneath 1 was really scared. I had never before been in this situation,” Mrs Straight said. The two men left her home after being there for about 20 minutes, the witness said. Mr Boese, a retired fisherman, living in Kilmore Street, said that he returned to his I room early on the evening of) January 31 and found ai Maori man standing beside: his refrigerator which had its door open. He had never seen the man before.

“I asked him what he was doing there, and he said that he was looking for food. When 1 said he had no right to be there, he knocked me down; and I don’t remember much after that,” witness said. ‘‘The Maori hit me on the jaw, and I lost all my teeth. The next thing I remember was when I was in hospital,” witness said. When he returned home he found that all his food had gone. It. consisted of corned

beef, sausages, beans, and I dripping. As a result of the assault, he lost his teeth, I suffered a sore jaw, black eyes, bruises, and the skin joff his arm. He was unable to identify the Maori who attacked him, Mr Boese said. ; Nofman Bartie Jensen, | aged 23, a prison inmate, 'said that he was serving a I term of imprisonment for burglary and the robbery of M. Boese. Witness told his Honour that his. nickname was ‘‘Drifter.”

I On the afternoon of Janu- [ ary 31, Jensen said, he had . been drinking with Makiri at . the Star and Garter Hotel. • As the two of them were , walking along the road near | the hotel, witness saw a I house door open and decided j to go in and see what he• could steal. At the end of I ithe passage, a woman came) (out and wanted to know. , I what he was doing. He said! |that'he wanted a drink of! water. Makiri came in behind him. The woman gave them some biscuits. '> A bottle of beer was taken from the refrigerator. Makiri offered to pay for it. The woman declined payment, and told them to leave, and so they went. Jensen said that later he and a mate named ‘‘Tiny,” I who was not Makiri, went to Mr Boese’s residence after witness had stolen a transistor radio from an- • other place. When he saw the man

who lived in the house coming back, he ducked down the alley and looked in the . window, Jensen said. He saw ■ his mate emptying the refrigerator, but did not see anything happen to the “old joker.” Jensen admitted that he had made a written statement to a detective in Dune- ’ din saying that the person 1 who was with him at Mr ' Boese’s place was Makiri. His Honour declared Jensen a hostile witness, and gave Mr Williamson leave to cross-examine him. Jensen under cross-exam-ination, said that the detecI five had typed out the state- : ment using information he had obtained from Christchurch. He had “just signed it to save any hassles.” He

had been drinking all day and wanted to get back to sleep. Detective Constable J. V. Penfold said that Makiri made a written statement denying the robbery but was reluctant to sig». it. He did so eventually. After consulting his superior officer, witness charged Makiri with robbery. Makiri replied: “The statement you got is all shit. I'm going to the Supreme Court on this. You’ll never break me.” In his address to the jury,

Mr Nation submitted that neither Makiri nor Jensen were particularly charming characters but they were entitled to the protection Of the law which said that the Crown had to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. It was admitted that Makiri had entered Mrs Straight’s home and had had no authority' to be there but the Crown had not proved that he had gone there with the intention of committing a crime. Jensen had said: “Makiri . did not want to have anything to do with flogging or nicking stuff from that place.” The robbery charge involved only two sausages and some persons might think that that was a joke, but. it was no joke to Mr Boese or to Makiri, as it

(was a serious charge. Jensen had given evidence that Ma|kiri was not. with him when |he went, to Mr Boese’s place. Makiri had not been identified as the person who had committed the sausage robbery, and when charged he had said in no uncertain terms that he was not guilty. Members of the jury would be left in a reasonable doubt on both . charges, and Makiri was therefore entitled to an acquittal on both counts, Mr Nation submitted.