Weapons-count fine

Press, 2 April 1979, Page 4

Weapons-count fine

I PA Auckland The baseball bat was from his father’s home, the sickle was to cut his grass, and the rod and chain were for hanging a plant pot: this was the explanation given by a man who appeared in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland on a charge ofj possessing offensive weapons in a public place. Mr J. R. Callander, S.M., said that if he had explained that to a policeman who had asked him about the articles and if he had not assaulted the policeman he would probably not be before the court. “You over-reacted.” hetold Joseph Peter Makiri. | aged 27, a track worker, of | Glen Innes. Makiri pleaded guilty to I possessing offensive weapons j in a public place and assault-! ing a policeman. Sergeant D. A. Bruce told the Court that at 10.20 p.m. ion Thursday the defendant I had been seen near a bus j terminal carrying a bag with la baseball bat handle pro-; Itruding from it.

A sickle and a chain attached to a steel rod had been found in the bag. Makiri had at first denied that the bag was his. He had subsequently acknowledged that it was but could offer no explanation for the articles. He had refused to get into a police car and had lashed out. He had taken hold of a policeman’s shirt and had torn it. The duty solicitor (Mr M. Ring) said the defendant had collected the bag from his father. In it had been the bat. a baseball glove, and a ball. Makiri had been going to use the sickle to cut his grass. At the time the defendant had been mildly intoxicated. The defendant told the Court that the rod and chain had been for a flower-pot holder to hang on his wall but he had not got round to making it. The Magistrate fined Makiri $25 and ordered him to pay $lO costs and compensation of $6 on the assault charge. He convicted a d discharged him on the offensive weapons count.