SERIOUS OFFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 13

SERIOUS OFFENCE

POSSESSION OF PISTOL

YOUNG MAN FINED

"It has been known for years that the authorities have made it a rule that persons must not be in possession of pistols without the permission of the Minister," said Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today, when Walter Melrose Lonergan, a presser and motor driver, aged 25, appeared before him on a charge of being round yesterday' in possession of an automatic pistol.

"We in New Zealand do not want a repetition of what has occurred in other counflrtes, some of which are very close, and others further away," said the Magistrate. "The offence is serious in this case, because the weapon might very easily have got into the possession of someone whose objects I were very different." ■

The accused was also charged with being in arrears of maintenance, and pleaded guilty to both charges. Senior-Sergeant Dempsey said that a warrant for the apprehension of the accused on the maintenance charge had been issued at Auckland on May 13. Prior to his arrest it was learned that he was supposed to be in possession of an unlawful weapon or weapons. A warrant was obtained, his rooms in Wellington were searched, and the automatic was found. The pistol was in good condition, an'd contained two cartridges, which had been fired and the shells replaced, so that the gun was not really loaded. The accused's explanation was that he had obtained the pistol some eighteen months ago when taxi-driving in Auckland. One of his fares had been a seaman off an American freighter, and the man had given him the pistol as he had no money. At no time had he made inquiries as to whether it was necessary to obtain a licence for the weapon. Mr. D. Perry, who appeared for the accused, gave the same explanation as the accused had given to the police. The accused had treated the gun as a toy, and had never been in possession of ammunition which could be fired in it. His record was perfectly clean, and when the detectives called upon him last night, he had been quite frank. The possession of a gun by a man of this type was not so serious as possession by a man of sinister record.

After dealing with the accused on the maintenance charge, the Magistrate fined him £2, in default a moitfh's imprisonment with hard labour, for being in possession of a pistol, which was automatically forfeited.