CONGRATULATING HIS WORSHIP

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 182, 29 April 1922, Page 8

CONGRATULATING HIS WORSHIP

A VOLUBLE PROSECUTOR. A private prosecution for the alleged theft of a second-hand bicycle was brought by J. N. T. Tierney, an elderly man, against a young man named John Clarence Cooper, alias Haydon. The prosecutor alleged that, the bicycle had been taken on October 17, 1921, from a store in Adelaide Road, where lie had 18 bicycles stored. Constable Hollis gave evidence that when he had seen accused the latter had made a statement in which he had said that he bought the bicycle for £4 10s. from a man who worked on the wharf. The prosecutor, who caused much amusement by his excitability and volubility while conducting his own case, said he identified the. bicycle by the handlebars and pedals. Air. J. F. B. Stevenson, who appeared for the accused, said that Cooper worked for Corona, a boot repairer. A man came into the shop one day and offered the accused a bicycle for sale at £4 ss. Accused decided to buy it, and borrowed tho money to do so from his employer. The accused, in his evidence, explained how he came to obtain possession of the bicycle. Daniel Corona, boot manufacturer, of 99 Adelaide Road, said that accused had borrowed money from him on several occasions. His Worship said that he would give the accused the benefit of a very slender doubt. “You take your bicycle away, Tierney,” concluded Air. Hunt. “1 would be a mean man if I left the Court without congratulating you, Your Worship,” exclaimed the prosecutor as he left the Court with the bicycle. “That’s all right,” remarked His Worship.