Alcoholic pleads guilty

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 4

Alcoholic pleads guilty

A long-term alcoholic had not realised the seriousness of the offence when he pleaded guilty to a new charge of aggravated robbery, Mr Justice Hardie Boys was told in the High Court yesterday. 1 The alcoholic used a knife to get into the premises of Hancocks Wines and Spirits at the corner of Victoria Street and Dorset Street in the early hours of January 17. After a tip-off from the 'public, the police found Stephen Douglas Thomson, a freezing worker, inside the building, which he had entered to get more liquor while on a bender. , He had a knife with a 20cm long blade in a black leather pouch. Yesterday Thomson was sentenced to six months periodic detention, put on supervision for two years and ordered to take treatment for his alcoholism. About 1.30 a.m. on January 17, a member of the public saw a man climbing in a window of premises in Dorset Street and told the police who put a cordon around the building.

Thomson was seen in an upstairs office near an open window. He seemed to be looking for a way out.

The police confronted Thomson in a hallway and ordered him to lie face down on the floor. The order had to repeated several times before he complied.

The handle of a knife was protruding* from his trousers and there was blood on the handle. He had cut his hand when using the knife to remove louvres to get in. For Thomson, Mr Wolfgang Rosenburg, said that his client had pleaded guilty to the offence in the District Court after being charged under the new legislation, which came into force at the end of September last year, and carried a maximum term of 14 years imprisonment.

Thomson had no intention of using the knife as a weapon, but as a type of

jemmy to get into the building. He was not a violent person. For many years Thomson had been an alcoholic, and while on a drinking binge had gone to the liquor supermarket to get more alcohol. He was unable to get access to where the liquor was stored, and was trying to get out of the place when the police got him. The offence did not fall . into the catagory envisaged by the legislature when the offence of aggravated robbery was put on the statute books. Thomson had spent more than a month in custody, Mr Rosenburg said.

Mr Justice Hardie. Boys said that Thomson had admitted the new offence of aggravated robbery, which had been created by Parliament last year as part of the community’s response to the frightening increase in violence and carrying and use of offensive weapons.

There were good reasons for the maximum term of 14 years. Burglary was bad enough, but when a weapon was carried, whatever the reason might be, there was danger to life.

Even if there was no intention of using, the weapon originally, a person who was cornered could panic and lash out in an effort to get away.

This was not a serious burglary in that he was making an attempt to get more to drink. The knife had been used as a jemmy. It now appeared that Thomson was prepared to do something about his alcoholism - which had been a problem for many years. It was obvious that he needed help, as he could not solve the matter on his own.

The probation' officer said Thomson was well motivated to take treat: ment, Mr Justice Hardie Boys said.