JAIL FOR CONVERSION

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 201, 22 May 1936, Page 7

JAIL FOR CONVERSION

Third Offence of the Type

"This is the third offence of it,s type committed by. the defendant, and on the two previous occasions he went to prison, said Mr. H. I’. Lawry, S.M., in the Lower Hutt Court yesterday, when sentencing Robert Allen Foote to three months iniprison me nt for unlawful conversion of a motor-car, valued nt £l5O, to his own '"'ser-'eant .1 IV. McHolm stated that on the n?ght of May I', Mr. D. G. Johnston had parked his car in Woburn Road and when he came back later had found Foote nt the wheel and trying the seif-starter. Defendant had made the excuse that a man named Stewart had cent him round to Woburn Road to the car so that he could get a ride home. Mr C K Barrett, who pleaded guilty on' defendant’s behalf, said that Foote had had a few drinks during the day and a considerable amount of liquor at a dance in the evening. Stewart, whom he had met at the hotel had offered to meet him outside the Bellevue Hotel and run him home. Mr. Johnstons car had been parked no r far from the hotel, ami wns a sedan and not a coupe as Stewart had said, but the mistake was a natural one. Defendant's trouble was drink and this' and other offences had been committed under its influence. Defendant was prepared to take out a prohibition order and to go to Public Works Department jobs in the country.