70 convictions for burglary

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 4

70 convictions for burglary

With 70 convictions for burglary. since 1970 there was ample evidence that a man had embarked on a life of dishonesty. Mr Justice Casey said in the High Court yesterday. His Honour jailed Paul Statesman-West, aged 30, unemployed. for two years and a half on three charges of burglary, possession of explosives and instruments of burglary, and unlawfully taking a car. Mr AM. Mclntosh appeared for the Crown. Statesman-West was arrested by members of the Armed Offenders Squad in his shop in Weld Street. Hokitika, and in his car the police found explosives, leather gloves, screw drivers, wire cutters and a jemmy. The three burglaries committed by Statesman-West were in Cromwell and Westland. A safe containing cash and stamps totalling $lOOO was stolen from the Moana Post Office, and property worth more than $lOOO, including semi-automatic rifles, was taken from the Cromwell Sports Centre. Petrol and a drum worth $126 were stolen front the, Shell Oil Company's depot in Cromwell. Mr M. J. Glue, for States-man-West, said that his cooffender. William John Mathicson, had been jailed for three years but he asked for a lesser term to be imposed on his client. By pleading guilty and accepting that a term of imprisonment was inevitable Statesman-West was . being realistic. He had been in custody on remand since November 27. He had elected, trial by jury on a charge of using explosives as a weapon and the charge would be strenuously denied. His record was nowhere near as bad as that of Mathieson. While'Statesman-West , had a fair amount of “form” his' record paled into insignificance compared with that of Mathieson who had served numerous terms of imprisonment and had been sentenced to seven years in Australia on a charge of assault with intent to rob. As a devoted family man Statesman-West was stricken because his marriage had broken up. He wanted to keep in contact . with his young children, Me Glue said. His Honour said that it was true that Statesman-. West's co-offender had served lengthier periods in jail but the prisoner's offending, while he did riot have the-;,

same degree of ‘ form.” - , was depressing enough and there was ample evidence that he had embarked on a life of dishonesty. Since 1970 Statesman-West' had been before the Court on 70 charges of burglary and over that period he had .been sentenced to a .total of nine years imprisonment.- ?> “If you haven’t learned from your experiences there’ is nothing the Court can dpt but impose sentences which will indicate its principal* concern is the protection of the community," his Honour? said. "The longer you go on with this life the longer you willspend in prison and eventu-. ally you might realise that. While one can sympathisewith your new-found reaction' to the responsibilities of fam-; ily life you went into these offences, which were serious, with your eyes open and the knowledge of what the consequences were," said his Honour. He would take into account the six months State-man-West had spent in custody, and for that reason he would treat him more len< iently than Mathieson, his Honour said.