$892 compensation sought for damage to patrol car

Press, 22 December 1978, Page 3

$892 compensation sought for damage to patrol car

Compensation of $892 was sought from an unemployed man when he appeared in ; the Magistrate’s Court [yesterday charged with willfully damaging a Ministry of (Transport patrol car last i week. i Anthony Darryl, Brown, I aged 20, who pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully damaging the patrol car, and to resisting a constable in Christchurch on December 14, was convicted and remanded in custody to' January 4 for a probation report and sentence. Brown was a passenger in a car which was stopped by a Ministry of Transport officer about 8.40 p.m. on State highway 1, said Serigeant B. N. Thompsom. j After a breath-test was ! administered to the driver, I the officer was punched in (the face and the car and its [occupants drove off. The officer gave chase, and the ■car was stopped in Halswell [Junction Road after its bonjnet flew ug, obscuring the (driver’s vision. Sergeant -Thompson said the car’s occupants got out screaming abuse at the ' officer, who had locked him-

self inside his vehicle as the youths showered it with ■ stones and bottles. An iron ! bar was used by one youth to smash windows and a micro-wave speed detector. When trying to escape, the officer was hit on the head with the iron bar. When police reinforce-1 ments arrived, the youths got back into their car and! drove off. At one stage,! their car was driven straight!, at a police car, which had to I take evasive action. i Again the bonnet of the youths’ car flew up, causing the driver to steer with I his head out of the window at speeds of up to 120km/h. When the police attempted < to overtake the car, it swerved about to prevent this until it hit a kerb, bounced off, and collided ■ with the rear of a police car, doing $224 worth ofli damage to it. Sergeant Thompson said: that the occupants of the; car ail ran off in different 1 directions. Brown was I caught by a constable but!' resisted violently. The total damage to the] Ministry of Transport patroll

car was $3570, of which the! defendant’s share was $892, he said. The three other youths involved were remanded to next month. FALSE PRETENCE CHARGES James Stanley McCook,; (aged 35, a disco operator,!' 'was remanded in custody! I without plea to December 29 1 on two charges of false preri jtence. I The defendant is alleged to have obtained a $2770, caravan and two stereo speaker cabinets valued at $lOOO. The alleged offences were ( committed in Christchurch on December 19 and 20. INTIMIDATION ALLEGED Mark Anthony Porter, , aged 19, a labourer, was re- ( manded without plea to December 28 on a charge of: I intimidation. The defendant is charged’, : that with intent to in-j ; timidate Colin Hemsley Gil-’ (more he threatened to dam- < i age a house in Barclay Place ' ’on December 14. ! Bail of $4OO was allowed. NO FINE I A contractor who ap-’<

ipeared for sentence on an ) excess blood-alcohol charge |was disqualified from hold-) ring or obtaining a driver’s) licence for 18 months. The Magistrate told Em- < pairatma Makariwi Pakara i Morrell, aged 43, that alI though the blood count of i 302 millilitres of alcohol to i 100 milligrams of blood was i “extremely high,” he would ; not impose a fine, or medical costs. j The offence occurred in ) June on a motorway near i This was because he' ! accepted the explanation of) counsel (Mr S. Barker) that) the defendant had already) incurred travel expenses of j $457 in attempting to get to) courts at Invercargill,! Queenstown, and Christ-) ) church. Part of these expenses had) : involved the chartering of a j light aircraft to get to one) 'courthouse. The Magistrate said he ) was satisfied that the defendant had done everything in his power to be at the courts even though the charge had, for various reasons, been unable to be proceeded with.