CHARGE OF THEFT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 57, 4 September 1937, Page 11

CHARGE OF THEFT

FROM CITY SHOP

TWO MEN FINED

Incidents which occurred in Cuba Street on August 16 resulted in Thomas Noon, a labourer, aged 39, and Joseph Newton, a seaman, aged 34, appearing before Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today charged with, the theft of four pairs of men's trousers valued at £2 18s. Both pleaded not guilty.

Detective-Sergeant P. Doyle prosecuted, and Mr. M. G. Neal appeared for the accused.

Joyce Speers, aged 15, 'said that she was employed in her father's drapery shop in Cuba Street. At 5.40 p.m. on August 16 she heard a noise as if a table in the front of the shop had been moved. The table contained a pile of men's trousers. She went to the door, and saw three men there. She could identify one of the men in the box as one of the three. They went up Cuba Street, but kept looking back. One was carrying a bundle. She told her father, and saw that some of the trousers were missing. After a while she went up the road after her father, and saw her father and a police constable talking to the three men on the corner of Abel Smith Street. The following day she saw one of the accused outside the shop.

Cross-examined, she said that the table was a few yards inside the door. She could not describe the third man. The three went up the road together.

Pefrcy Reginald Speers, father of the previous witness, said that as a result of what his daughter said, he went into the street, where she pointed out three men to him.' When he accosted them, they denied taking any trousers. Two of them were tlje accused. The other man went back, and witness followed him into the house. As he came out again, he dropped a pair of trousers over the gate. Witness caught hold of him, but he broke away and joined the other two. The third man offered him 7s for the trousers, and the other two asked him to accept the money. Witness called a constable, and gave the three of them in charge. Newton told the constable witness would not sell him the trousers. Subsequently Noon paid for a pair of trousers and took them. The constable took down names and addresses. Witness identified three pairs of trousers produced. Cross-examined, witness said that all the men were under the influence of liquor. Noon paid for the trousers with money out of his own pocket. Alexander Moore said that on the afternoon of the alleged theft he found three pairs of trousers inside the front gate of his home in Cuba Street. Later in the evening he saw a young man hovering near the gate. The man made off. He was not either of the defendants. At the conclusion of evidence for the prosecution, Mr. Mosley said that there was a case to answer in respect of one of the pairs of trousers. Joseph Newton said that, when passing Speers's shop, a stranger whom they had met near a hotel dived into the shop. He reappeared immediately afterwards with a pair of trousers. The accused denied that he had had anything to do with the trousers. Cross-examined, the accused said he was on sustenance. He had had a "good number" of drinks that afternoon. - _ ~ , Detective-Sergeant Doyle: Is that how . you spend your sustenance money? Accused: A friend who is a, seaman bought the drinks for me. The accused Thomas Noon also gave evidence denying the theft of the pair of trousers. He said that he was on sustenance and had had some drinks at the time. ■ ~ The Magistrate said that he believed the evidence of the prosecution. He convicted the defendants and fined them each £2 and costs.'