CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 71, 17 December 1937, Page 18

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Shoplifter Fined £7/10/Pleading guilty to three charges of shoplifting, Thelma Butterworth, married, 36, was convicted and fined £7/10/-, in default one month's imprisonment, on the first offence by Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday. On the remaining two charges she was convicted and discharged. The offences took place on December 8, when a manicure set valued at £l/3/was stolen from Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., two pairs of women’s stockings valued at 9/10 were stolen from Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd., and two women’s handkerchiefs valued at 5/- from the D.I.C. Detective-Sergehnt P. Doyle, who prosecuted, said Butterworth was observed stealing in the D.I.C. The police were then informed and she was detained at the shop. Mr. R. I. M. Sutherland, who appeared for Butterworth, said she had recently been treated for an obscure nervous complaint. He submitted there was nothing systematic about the offences, which were committed on impulse. She had ample money in her purse at the time. As she had already spent three days in custody and had suffered through the stigma attached to the offence, he suggested that the case could be met with a line, and that accused’s name be suppressed. The magistrate said that in view of the probation officer's report, he would impose a fine, though normally the court imprisoned shoplifters. He could not concede to the request for suppression of the name.