Bank officer on theft charge

Press, 12 July 1980, Page 4

Bank officer on theft charge

A bank officer ..charged! with stealing $5500 in cash; was remanded to July 18 on bail of $l5OO when he appeared before Judge Bisphan in the District Court yesterday. No plea was entered by Peter Anthony Elways Thomas, aged 35. ; Thomas was not legally i represented. j The money, the property of Albert George Bryant, is) alleged to have been stolen[ on or about November 20,i 1978. PRISON TERM David Toko Holland, aged! 24, unemployed, was impris-. oned for six months when he appeared for sentence on two charges of burglary. Holland had earlier pleaded guilty and had been con-! victed on charges of breaking and entering flats in

llßealey Avenue and Gerald[line Street on July 3. The Judge said he acceptI ed that the burgalaries in [themselves had not been particularly serious. ! However, the defendant had been before the courts for offences of dishonesty, ’ including burglary, since - 1970. j The public was always eni titled to some respite from burglars, the Judge said. ’ Counsel (Mr M. J. Knowflies) said Holland had shown fl he had a problem with of- • fences of burglary for which | he had been sent to prison lon more than one occasion. II Since his release last year •.the defendant had been out i of work even though he had i tried to obtain employment. Mr Knowles said Holland ■ was totally frustrated, the •! unemployment benefit didn’t ■satisfy his needs, and on J this occasion he had sue-

Icumbed because he was I under financial pressure. On two charges of being ’found on enclosed premises without lawful excuse Holland was remanded to August 18 for a defended hearing. The alleged offences were also said to have taken place on July 3. STOLE PARTS A man who stole car parts and accessories, to a total value of $4OO, while working for a motor-parts firm, was sent to prison for four months. The Judge said that although counsel (Mr C. D. Eason) had sought a noncustodial sentence the Judge said that while previous terms of periodic detention had worked well for Derek Norman Anson, aged 24, they had not, apparently, for the courts or the communitv. In addition to imprisonment Anson was put on probation for 12 months. While the defendant had difficulties in the past with such offending there had been a marked improvement in his behaviour since his marriage, Mr Eason said. DRUG OFFENCE A man convicted of importing a class A drug —

psilocine — into New Zealand in November, 1978, was convicted and remanded to July 18 for a probation report and sentence. Philip Rush Jobson, aged 21. unemployed, who admitted the offence, was granted I a continuance of the bail terms set earlier in the High Court. Sergeant G. C. Jones said the defendant, who was resident in Australia, had consigned a rucksack by air freight to a relative in Christchurch. The rucksack' arrived at Christchurch airport on November 17, 1978, where it was examined and seized by customs officers. Inside the'rucksack was a jar containing some mushrooms in a solution together with a note to a friend on how to use them in order to obtain an hallucinogenic effect, said Sergeant Jones. On analysis by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research the mushrooms were found to contain 63 milligrams of psilocine, a class A drug. When interviewed by the police the defendant said he had sent them “on an impulse.” The mushrooms were readily available in Australia, said Sergeant Jones.