Three men face rape, abduction charges

Press, 20 March 1982, Page 4

Three men face rape, abduction charges

Three men. each facing charges of abducting and raping a girl, aged 15, were remanded in custody to March 26 by. Judge Fogarty in the District Court yesterday. No pleas were entered by John Tihema. aged 36, a shearer, Tunia Piwi Kahu Raudie Hakopa. Kevin Kehoe, aged 20, and Cedric Mathew Paul Hapakuku, aged 18, both unemployed. The three defendants are each charged with raping the girl and with abducting her with intent to have sexual intercourse with her. The alleged offence took place on March 16. Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon said he had no applications to make except for Tihema who sought bail. Tihema would deny both charges; he had substantial sureties, and his wife was due to have an operation, said. Mr Fitzgibbon.. Bail was opposed for all three defendants by Sergeant G. G. Clelland. The maximum penalty for each alleged offence is 14 years imprisonment. $2OOO BAIL Paul Vaughan Costigan, aged 39, an insurance agent (Mr M. J. Glue) was remanded to April .8 without plea on a charge of carrying on the business of a bookmaker. Costigan, who is alleged to have committed the offence on March 17, was allowed ■ bail of $2OOO. 1 i. Also allowed bail of the (same amount was Russell "Alfred Ward, aged 40, who is charged with permitting his Pine Avenue flat to be used for bookmaking, on March 17, and with receiving a $2300 video cassette recorder between November 25, last year, and March 17. Mr Glue sought interim suppression of the defendant’s name as, he said, the charges would be denied. Ward was a first offender. , The application was refused. DEPOSITIONS An unemployed man charged with the attempted rape of a girl, aged 10, was remanded in custody- to March 22 for the taking of depositions.

Peter Joseph Holden, aged 25 (Mr J. J. Brandts-Giesen) is alleged to have committed the offence on March 8. He is also charged with converting a $2BOO vehicle on March 17. No plea was entered to this charge. While in custody, the Judge ordered that Holden be kept apart from other prisoners. FALSE ALARM A man who admitted wilfully giving a false fire alarm was convicted and fined $lOO. In addition, Trevor Findlay Duncan, aged 46, unemployed, was ordered to. pay $354" in compensation to the Fire Service for having to turn out. Sergeant. Clelland said at 4 p.m. on Thursday the defendant, who had been drinking in a hotel in Pages Road, had called the Fire Service from a telephone booth saying that there was a fire at an address in Stanmore Road and that children were in the building. When units of the Fire Service arrived at the Stanmore Road address they found it to be a bank and there was no. fire. The police later located Duncan at the hotel and in explanation said he was drunk and homeless and that afternoon had separated from .his girlfriend. The duty solicitor (Mr P. Kennedy) said the offence apparently rose out of a dare when he was drunk.. Not only was it a stupid dare but it would be an expensive one, said the Judge. CUSTODY A Reefton miner charged with the unlawful possession of six sticks of gelignite and 10 detonators was remanded in custody to Sunnyside Hospital for a psychiatric assessment. The defendant, who will next appear in Court on April 2, is alleged to have committed the offence on Thursday at Reefton. At the request of counsel (Mr A. Prescott) the defendant was granted interim suppression of his name. The charge relates to a domestic disturbance in which the Greymouth armed offenders squad was called

out and neighbouring houses had to be evacuated. A brief medical report was handed to the Judge by Sergeant M. P. Caldwell in support of the remand to Sunnyside Hospital. 10 MONTHS JAIL An unemployed salesman earlier convicted of stealing $23,416 from his employer, was sent to prison for 10 months when he appeared lor sentence. ’ There were indications that Mark lain Boocock, aged 26 (Miss F. E. Bolwell) sought to live in “a grand life style” and that when he hadn't got money he took it from others, said the Judge. In Auckland in 1979, the defendant was convicted on a charge of theft as a servant. One would have thought this earlier "shattering” experience! would have taught Boococß the lesson that meddling with the money of one’s employer could only lead to trouble, the Judge said. Boocock had earlier admitted stealing the $23,416. the property of R. W. Midgley (N.Z.), Ltd. between August 1, 1981, and February 4, this year.

The defendant committed the offending by stealing a number of cheques sent in by other firms which he had then paid into his. own account. He had also used his own account to pay discrepancies which arose when queries were raised by some of the firms concerned. Boocock had bought a $13,940 car from the proceeds of his dishonesty. Counsel (Ms Bolwell) said this car had already been signed over to his former employer in partial compensation and arrangements were being made to raise the $9700 balance in compensation sought. , • Boocock, she submitted, was facing his charge not as a result of police inquiries but because he had gone to his employer and made a full confession and had co-oper-ated fully with the police. The offending had been quite unsophisticated and occurred at a time when the defendant had been under considerable personal and financial stress, said Ms Bolwell.