Burglars for sentence

Press, 20 September 1985, Page 7

Burglars for sentence

Cash and restricted drugs to a total value of $1620 were taken from a safe in a Nelson pharmacy which had been opened with a shotgun blast, said Sergeant M. J. South in the District Court yesterday. Robin Kenneth Watson, aged 21, and Kerry Graeme Mitchell, aged 29, both forestry workers, of Blenheim, were convicted of burglary by Judge Frampton. They were each remanded on bail of $lOOO. Watson will be sentenced in the District Court at Blenheim on October 9, and Mitchell in the District Court on October 3.

They had admitted charges of burgling Alien’s Pharmacy and the Strand Fish Supply on September 5. Watson said he fired the shotgun to open the drug safe. He told the police he was a drug addict and had stolen the drugs because he was suffering from withdrawal symptons. Entry to the pharmacy had been by way of the rear of the fish shop. Cigarettes were stolen from the latter. The defendants were apprehended in Christchurch. CHARGE OF FRAUD Compensation of $3BO was sought from a sickness beneficiary who fraudu-

lently obtained this sum from a man, aged 81, in an old people’s home, said Sergeant South. Thomas Richard Corbishley, aged 22 (Miss E. H. B. Thompson), who admitted the offences, was convicted and remanded on bail of $750 to October 3 for a probation report and sentence. In conversation with the complaint at an old people’s home, the defendant had suggested that castor wheels on the complaintant’s chair would make it easier for him to move about. Told that the wheels would cost $l4 the complainant wrote out a cheque for this amount which he gave to Corbishley. The defendant altered the amount to read $ll4 before cashing the cheque. He got the castors but pocketed $lOO, said Sergeant South. Corbishley, on another occasion, returned to the home and not finding the complainant in his room removed two of his cheque forms, filled them out for $2OO and $BO respectively, and cashed them. When questioned by the police on September 5, Corbishley said he needed the money to support himself and his girlfriend, said

Sergeant Smith. THREE BURGLARIES A man who committed two burglaries at Geraldine, and another at Burnham from which cash and property valued about $2OOO were taken, told the police he needed money to buy cannabis, said Sergeant South. Richard Gordon Dodds, aged 18, unemployed, was convicted and remanded on bail to October 3 for a probation report and sentence. He had admitted burgling the Geraldine premises of the Arundel Lumber Company on May 26 and September 11, and the Burnham premises of Giesens Wines on September 9. The three burglaries were committed by the defendant and two associates, and his share of compensation sought was $454, said Sergeant South. BURGLARY CHARGE Dean Richard Taylor, aged 19, unemployed, was remanded in custody for a week on a charge of breaking and entering Lustys Jewellers, Ltd, in Queenstown. Taylor who did not plead, is charged with committing the offence on September 16.