YOUTH FOR SENTENCE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 204, 26 May 1938, Page 6

YOUTH FOR SENTENCE

y Charges Of Breaking And c Entering r __ __ 1, y J MAGISTRATES’ COURT ? i s r Two charges of breaking and enter- - ing and one of theft were preferred against Maurice James Hogg, sheetmetal worker, aged 19, in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday. Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., was on the bench, and Detective-Sergeant P. Doyle prosecuted, Accused pleaded guilty to both charges and was committed for sentence at the Supreme Court, Christchurch. Mr. J. S. Hanna represented Hogg. Evidence was given by William Percival Andrews, manager of the Federal Engineering Co., Ltd., who said that on his arrival at work on April 14 he found the fanlight above the door broken. Further inspection revealed that the office had been ransacked and the safe in it forced open. About id was missing, as well as a watch, a fountain pen, several tools, two sets of keys and a ruler. Witness identified the objects which were produced by the police. Constable E. J. White, wholsaid he was on duty in the vicinity on the morning of April 14, said that the door of the .Globe Printing Co., Ltd., was open at about 2 o’clock. He went inside and saw a person behind the desk in the office. The man disappeared through a door leading into the back of the premises, proke a window, and made good his escape. The office was in disorder and the tools identified by Mr. Andrews were found by the safe on the premises of the Globe Printing Company.

It was stated by Grace Levina Inkster, a clerk employed by the Globe Printing Company, that nothing was missing from the premises when she arrived the following morning. Detective P. Smeaton produced two. statements made by accused when 'interviewed on May 9,'at.Wellington. Ju, them accused stated that he and,another man entered the premises of the--Federal Printing Company at about midnight on April 13 and forced open .. the safe in the office. The other man took the money but accused admitted taking tile tools and other articles produced by the police. Accused and the other man went into the Globe Printing Company at about 1-30 a.ni„. and when he was sitting at the desk in the office' looking for a . key . to open the safe, he was disturbed. He : went through a back window,' but the other; man, who was not seen by the eon-' stable, crawled into .another room.

“A Rude Shock” “These people,had,a very rude shock the other evennig,” said-Sub-Inspector A. D. McLean, when prosecuting Andrew Young, ship’s steward, aged '44, for being; on premises without lawful excuse. Accused pleaded guilty. He was found asleep in the bedroom of a house in Abel Smith Street on the night of May 20. “The owner of the house and his wife were leaving the premises when they noticed a sack of manure near the front of. the house. They took no, notice at the time, but they returned to find this man asleep in their bed and the sack on the floor. They did not know the man then, they never have known him, and they don’t know him now.” ’ Accused said that he was very drunk and that he “did the only natural thing” by falling asleep to get over his drunkenness. He said he woke up in a .strange house to find himself sober: A fine of £2 and costs was imposed. Ship Desertion ■ A charge of desertion from his ship was heard against Denis Maurice Sberard Perry, apprenticed officer, aged 17. Accused pleaded guilty. Sub-Inspector McLean said that the shipping company was not concerned about accused but that his people in England were anxious that he should go back. He was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence within three months if called on; provided he took the first opportunity of returning to England.