BURGLARS CAUGHT RED-HANDED

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 113, 6 February 1936, Page 6

BURGLARS CAUGHT RED-HANDED

Two Men Plead Guilty

MANNERS STREET SHOI‘

ENTERED

Two detectives driving along Manners Street at one o’clock of a recent morning, saw a man cuter the Ritz Beauty Salon. Their suspicious aroused, they- stopped their car and entered the premises, where they surprised some burglars red-handed. Oue of the men tried to escape, but after a struggle was overpowered. Two of the three arrested pleaded guilty before a magistrate yesterday, and were committed for sentence; the third, who pleaded not. guilty, was committed for trial. He was the man whom the detectives had originally seen outside the premises. As an outcome of the incident, Laurence James Nacey, a chef, aged 34, John Joseph Morris, ship’s fireman, aged 38, and William Murphy, ship’s fireman, aged 48, appeared yesterday before Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington. They were jointly charged with breaking and entering the Ritz Beauty Salon with intent to commit theft. Nacty and Morris, who pleaded guilty, were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence, and Murphy, who pleaded not guilty, was committed for trial. The three accused were represented by-. Mr. P. Verschaffelt. Detective-Sergeant E. C. Jarrold prosecuted. “At one a.m. on January 28, with Detective T. Brosnan, I was driving in a motor-car along Manners Street,” said Detective W. Ritchie, giving evidence. “As we were passing the Ritz Beauty Salon I saw the accused Murphy standing on the footpath in ifront of the shop. He looked up and down the street, then walked toward the door. At the same time I saw a man in shirt-sleeves inside the shop, opening the door. We drove quickly round the block, down Hill Street and up Parish Street, and stopped the car in front of the shop.” When the two detectives went to the shop door it was closed, but on forcing it, it opened. Inside they found Morris behind a small counter, at the cash register, while Murphy looked out from one of the cubicles. Detective Ritchie told the men they were under arrest, and ordered them to come out. “Where’s your mate?” he demanded. At this Nacey looked out of another cubicle, further down the shop. Nacey had his suit-coat and shoes off. It was with difficulty that the men were kept together. Detective Ritchie told the court that he then went to the door to summon assistance. On his return Murphy was in the cubicle nearest the door. Witness went further down the shop, and Murphy made a rush out into the street. “I was just behind him,” said the detective. “I caught him in Manners Street opposite tfco shop, and after a struggle I brought him back.” The men were then taken to the police station. • TOwminafion of the premises showed the fanlight wide open, and the curtain ripped and tied to the skylight. Detective Brosnan corroborated Detective Ritchie’s evidence, and added that he had found & ladder at the rear of the Ritz building, leading to the roof. It .was possible’to cross from the roof to the skylight. Clara Maitland, proprietress of the Ritz Beauty Salon, described leaving the shop locked up on the night in question. The fanlight in the, roof had been left slightly open. When she returned next morning she found that papers in the tin, aS well as some of the stock, had been gone through. The curtain had been ripped in two, knotted and tied to the skylight.