Deterrent term

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 5

Deterrent term

A man who escaped from a vehicle in which he was being taken back from the District Court to Rolleston told the police that his wife and child had been threatened, said Sergeant M. P. Caldwell in the District Court yesterday. Patrick James Harrison, aged 32, committed the offence on December 12. He was convicted by Judge Fraser and sentenced to an extra three-month prison term. The courts had to have regard to the deterrent factor, the Judge said. It would not be appropriate for him to impose a concurrent sentence as asked for by the defendant, said the Judge. Sergeant Caldwell said the defendant had been brought from prison as a witness in a court case. He escaped about 4 p.m. from the vehicle taking him back to Rolleston while it had stopped at an intersection in Gloucester Street. Harrison was found at 8 p.m. hiding in the roof of an inner-city address. He had to be handcuffed after a

struggle, said Sergeant Caldwell. HOSPITAL Sachets of syringes, of a value of 5135, were about to be removed from the drug room at St George’s Hospital when the burglar was disturbed by a nurse, said Sergeant CaldwelL Neil Andrew Copland, aged 21, a process worker, admitted breaking into the hospital at 2.15 ajn. on December 8. He was convicted and remanded on bail to January 7 for a probation report and sentence. Copland, who was found by a police patrol after running away from the hospital, said he wanted the syringes in order to inject himself with drugs.