Man found guilty of robbery in toilet

Press, 4 December 1985, Page 13

Man found guilty of robbery in toilet

Not long after collecting more than $3OO in winnings at the Christchurch T.A.B, a man was “rolled” in the toilets at the Lancaster Park Hotel and his billfold containing $55 was stolen, Mr Justice Heron and a jury have been told in the High Court. It was a “quick, professional job,” in which the victim was grabbed from behind as he stood at the urinal. His arms were pinned to his sides and a knee was jabbed into his back while a second man unzipped his jacket and took the billfold from his shirt pocket, according to the evidence. After deliberating for more than hour the jury found Anthony Paul Curtis,

aged 29, unemployed, guilty of the aggravated robbery of Walter Lawrence Bradley of a billfold and $55. The robbery was committed by two men but the other offender has not been found. Mr A. M. Mclntosh who appeared for Curtis, submitted in his address to the jury that the Crown had failed to prove the identification of Curtis to the required standard. For the Crown, Mr G. K. Panckhurst said that evidence would be given that just after Mr Bradley went into the toilets two Maori men entered the bar, spoke together briefly, and went' into the toilets. Two persons in the bar would say that they saw Curtis leaving the hotel in a hurry soon before Mr Bradley came out of the toilets and said that he had been robbed. A hotel patron dashed outside and saw two men running across Ferry Road. One went along an alley and Curtis went onto a section and then got into a taxi which drove off towards the centre of the city. A taxi-driver would give evidence that she had picked up Curtis in Ferry Road and had driven him to the King George Hotel in Fitzgerald Avenue. Seen by the police a week later, Curtis denied any involvement and suggested that it was a case of mistaken identity, Mr Panckhurst said.

Mr Bradley, a tally clerk, said that he finished work at Lyttelton at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21, and went to the Christchurch T.A.B. where he collected more than $3OO in winnings. After visiting two hotels looking for a friend he did shopping and then walked to the Lancaster Park Hotel, where he drank two or three times a week, as it was the nearest hotel to his home. He put his parcels under a table and went to the toilets which were empty when he entered. As he was doing up his zip he was grabbed from behind, his arms were pinned to his sides, and he was pulled backwards. At the same time a knee was jabbed into his back. A second man unzipped his jacket and took his billfold containing $55 from his shirt pocket, He had a fleeting glimpse of the back of one man as he went out of the door, Mr Bradley said. He yelled for help, and ran out into the bar, but by that time the men had escaped. The man who took the billfold was a Maori or Islander. Both had short, fuzzy hair. Some 10 days later the billfold was returned to him, minus the money by a workmate. It had been found in the gutter in Barbadoes Street and still contained his pay slips, Mr Bradley said.