‘Gentleman thief' sentenced

Press, 22 June 1978, Page 5

‘Gentleman thief' sentenced

A man acquitted by a jury I on a 20c sausage robbery (Charge was described by Mr : Justice Roper in the Supreme Court yesterday as a “gentleman thief.” William Wati Makiri. aged 44, a shearer, was sentenced 1 to six months imprisonment, to be served concurrently with the term of one year he is already serving, when he appeared for sentence on a charge of entering the residence of Vivienne Ruth Straight on January 31 with intent to commit a crime. Mr G. Nation appeared for Makiri. and Mr N. W. Williamson for the Crown. Evidence was given at Makiri’s trial that he and another man who were looking for things to steal walked uninvited into a flat where Mrs Straight was sitting alone. They talked to her about the Epitaph Riders and other motor-cycle gangs. Makiri helped himself to a bottle of beer from the refrigerator but offered to pay for it. The jury' found Makiri not

y;guilty on a charge of rob-) y ( bing on the same eveningi r Walter Sydney Boese, a re-i-itired fisherman, of two saus-) a!ages, valued at 20c. on the 1 same evening. Mr Boese. j who was beaten unconscious d by a man he caught raiding his refrigerator, was unable yjto identify his assailant ex-' r icept for the fact that he was! u a Maori. n! His Honour said that Mae kiri had just started a 12n month prison sentence and ! h he did not think that it was appropriate to extend that J term. J "When you saw that theft ’ {was not on. you seem to have accepted it with good ' grace and. indeed, acted in al “ rather gentlemanly manner, ■{Makiri, so there must be 11 some good in you somet j where," said his Honour. D PERIODIC DETENTION s An unemployment ben- ;. eficiary who tried to cash al a valueless cheque for $40.) - stolen from the chequebook y of a constable attached to the C. 1.8., was sentenced byi t Mr Justice Roper to four

{months periodic detention. ;| He is Albert Barry Waterman. aged 32. unemployed, who was found guilty by a jury last week on a charge , of attempted false pretence. Mr D. F. Cavgill appeared ;‘for Waterman and Mr N. W. ■ Williamson for the Crown, j Evidence was given at the ■| trial that the constable apparently lost his cheque book while a member of a ) police party executing a search warrant on the home of Doreen Myrtle Fraser in Mathesons Road. Waterman, in company with Fraser, went to the Riccarton branch of the . Bank of New Zealand where ‘ the constable's account was kept and tried to cash a cheque for $4O, drawn on the account. j His Honour said that he regarded the matter as a most inept attempt at false j pretence. Waterman got nothing from it and there ) might be something in counsel’s submission that he , could have been under the influence of another.