PETTY PILFERING AT PORIRUA

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 36, 13 February 1919, Page 8

PETTY PILFERING AT PORIRUA

George Edward Kinnaird, a young man, last month applied for and was granted a position as attendant at the Porirua Mental Hospital, representing himself as a' returned soldier, and wearing a returned soldier's badge. He left the Mental Hospital on 23rd January. This' morning, at the Magistrate's Court, before Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., Kinnaird pleaded guilty to the following charges : On 29th January, at Porirua, theft of a razor valued at 15s, the property of Victor Bannister, also £2 in money; about 31st January, at Porirua, theft of a leather brief bag valued at 18s, the property of Anton Anderson; about 24th January, at Wellington, theft of. a man's bicycle, valued at £8, the property of some person or persons unknown; on 31st January, at Porirua, theft of a shirt valued at 3s 6d, the property of Albert Downes ; about 23rd January,, at Porirua, theft of two bow ties and i2s 6d in money, the property of John Paterson. Sub-Inspector Emerson stated that Kinnaird was employed as an attendant at Porirua Mental Hospital for a few weeks until 23rd January, when he stole the goods mentioned in the charges. When arrested, accused was wearing a returned soldier's badge, which he subsequently admitted he had found. As a matter of fact, he had never been at the front.. The accused's record -showed that since 1912 he had spent a great part of his time in gaol for breaking and entering, and theft, tor receiving stolen goods etc. Accused put in a written statement, in which he said he had served in the Imperial Army with the Black Watch. His parents', he said, were old, and were looking after his two children. The Magistrate gave it as his opinion, that a man who had spent most of his time in gaol since 1912, could not havo been of much assistance to his parents or children, and could not expect lenient treatment. A sentence of two years' reformative treatment would be imposed.