Youth pleads guilty to two house burglaries

Press, 26 November 1982, Page 6

Youth pleads guilty to two house burglaries

A youth caught running away from a house he burgled in Christchurch had stuffed the proceeds — $24 — down the back of the seat of a. police patrol car, Judge McAloon was told . in the District Court at Greymouth yesterday. - ' David Paul Galbraith, aged 17, an unemployed fisherman, pleaded guilty to the. burglary of a house, in Marshland Road in August and one in New Brighton Road in September. The defendant appeared in court with an arm and leg in plaster and had been in hospital, his. counsel, Mr S. J. .Hembrow, , told the court. There was further, surgery to be done as the result of a recent motor-cycle ..accident, he said. The Judge said that because of. the defendant’s predicament he. would not remand him in custody, as he was inclined to do as he had/ appeared in court at : Christchurch in June on four burglary charges'. ...?, . i The defendant was convicted and remanded until December 8 on bail for a probation officer’s report and sentence. .. Senior-Sergeant. C.i ...J; Thomson said that, a house in Marshland Road had been broken into on August 6, and $lO and a,microwave oven removed from the house. The

oven was found later, hidden under a hedge on the property. The defendant, when interviewed, had said that he had intended to return later with a- vehicle, retrieve the oven and sell it. In the New Brighton Road burglary, the defendant and an associate had been disturbed after gaining entry, and , taking money from a purse in the kitchen. The owner of the house had returned by car, to see the two

running away through the back of his section. The two had separated, and the owner had caught the defendant in an adjoining street. . . The defendant had denied, the burglary and, after being arrested and taken to the police station in a patrol car, $24 was found stuffed behind a seat. The defendant denied putting it there.