STOLE FOR HER MOTHER

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 78, 26 December 1925, Page 4

STOLE FOR HER MOTHER

A SAD CHRISTMAS STORY

She was only a young girl, somewhere about twenty, and the thought of a mother who was very ill not having a Christmas present made her suddenly steal. She was observed doing so, however, and arrest immediately followed. Subsequently Hie girl appeared before Mr. Ji. Page, S.M., in Hie Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. ‘‘This case is a very sad one, your Worship,” commenced Sub-Inspector Kemp, who prosecuted. ‘‘The accused has never been in Court before, and is a hard-working, respectable girl, who is very attached to an aged mother. She receives £2 a week as wages out of which she gives 355. for the support of the home. With the rest she pays her fares to work and gets a little thing or two for herself occasionally. The trouble in this case is that her mother was very ill and there was no money with which to buy her a present. The girl wanted badly to give her fond parent something, so she took a couple of little dishes from a shop, valued at a few shillings. One of the salesmen, however, saw the movement, and gave her over to the police. What I have said your Worship is true, and it strikes me as being very sad. She is a. really good girl, and had it not been for the fact that her mother had no present coming she would not have acted as she did. She gave way to sudden temptation, but now she'is very sorry for what has happened, and I am sure lias suffered greatly as the result of being in Court.”

The accused was convicted and discharged, the Magistrate remarking that under the circumstances lie would order the suppression of her name.