THREE MEN FINED

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 9, 5 October 1940, Page 5

THREE MEN FINED

Constable Obstructed

“There is no doubt that these men did interfere with the constable,” commented Mr. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, when imposing a fine of £5 on each of three men who had pleaded not guilty to obstructing Constable G. A. Rose in the execution of his duty.

Accused, for whom Mr. C. H. Arndt appeared, were two naval reservists, Keith Kennedy, aged 26, and Ralph Daniel Joseph King, aged 25, and Herbert John Keeling, labourer and salesman, aged 22. King, who also pleaded not guilty to using obscene language, was convicted on this charge and fined £2. Sub-Inspector L. R. Capp prosecuted, and Constable Rose said in evidence that on Thursday evening he had occasion to speak to a man who had committed an offence in Willis Street. . The constable added that he was questioning the man as to his address when the three accused obstructed him, with the result that the man being questioned got away. Witness called Constable H. Beuck to his assistance and'the accused were subsequently ar jir Arndt submitted that the accused saw the constable interrogating a sailor whom they knew, and went along to see if they could look after the man, but did not obstruct the constable. After hearing evidence for the deience, the magistrate said that though there was no doubt that the men did interfere with the constable, no actual violence was used. .