‘INEXPLICABLE LAPSE’

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 302, 16 September 1933, Page 21

‘INEXPLICABLE LAPSE’

Young Woman Shoplifter PROBATION GRANTED A young married woman with two children, Millicent Hardie, was admitted to probation for twelve months by Mr. E. Page, S.M.j ip the Police Court yesterday, when she pleaded guilty to two charges of shoplifting. Detective-Sergeant Revell said that on September 9 Detectives Ritchie and Smith interviewed the accused. They told her she was suspected of stealing goods from a shop, and without any hesitation she produced two dresses which she said she had taken from James Smith, Ltd. She also produced a coatee which she said she had stolen from the shop of Kareem Alexander. Her husband was in constant employment and she could not advance any excuse for her action beyond stating that she had succumbed to sudden temptation. Slie had not previously been before the Court. Mr. F. W. Ongley, who appeared for accused, said that his client, who was a Dunedin girl, had been married five years. Her husband was a sea-faring man and she had been living in rooms In Wellington. She had come into contact with a class of people quite foreign to her. Her lapse was inexplicable, and counsel suggested that the leniency of the Court should be extended to her. The Magistrate: I propose to convict her and admit her to probation for a period of twelve months. I will make an order for the return of the goods to the owners. She is to refund to James Smith, Ltd., the sum of £4 and to the other people, 10/-, by way of depreciation. Miscellaneous Cases Found on licensed premises after hours, Walter James White was convicted and ordered to pay costs. On a charge of having unlicensed radio sets, Leonard Owen Bellette and Richard .Herlihy were each fined £2. For similar offences, George H. Tanner was fined 30/-, and Gordon E. Munro £l. For delivering possession of a firearm without a permit, Cyril Mercer Duthie and John William Elliott were each fined £l. Matthew Houston and John Harold Wood were each fined £1 for procuring possession of a firearm without a permit.