STEALERS OF METAL

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 69, 18 September 1930, Page 15

STEALERS OF METAL

The removal of a quantity of cast iron and a pulley, of the total value of £3, resulted in a charge, of theft being made against Herbert Allan Devenport, a labourer, aged 18,. and Kenneth Bernard Blackbee, a motor mechanic, aged; 28, in the Petone Magistrate's Court; yesterday. Devenport did not appear, but wrote saying that he was working at Fielding. Blackbee was present and pleaded not guilty. John Richard Lund, the owner of the stolen goods, said the iron consisted of parts of an old threshing machine which had been lying on his property for about four years. Constable. J. L. Moore read statements from the two defendants. In his statement Devenport admitted having taken the articles from Lund's property and having sold them to a scrap dealer in Wellington. "I took them for tho sole purpose of selling them, as I was in need of money," he said. Blackbee, in his statement, said that he accompanied Devenport to Lund's place and took the articles. He thought they had been given by Lund. Asked by the Magistrate whether he had anything to say, Blackbee said that he could not add anything to his statement.

Mr. T. B. M'Neil, S.M., said that considering that Blackbee had not previously been before the Court, he would be convicted and ordered to pay costs. He would have to make restitution of 30s, half the value of the stolen articles.

Davenport, who the police stated had a previous conviction for theft, was convicted and ordered to come upfor sentence if called upon within six months. He was ordered to pay costs and to make restitution of 30s.

Blackbee's request for the suppression of his name was refused.