YOUTH'S CRIME
BUILDING SET ALIGHT
How a youth, aged 16, tried to cover up small thefts by burning the cash book and set fire to the office in which he was employed was described by De-tective-Sergeant P. Doyle in the Children's Court before Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., yesterday afternoon. The young man pleaded guilty to wilfully setting fire to a city building, and also to theft of money totalling £1 6s Id.
Detective-Sergeant Doyle said that the accused was employed as an office boy, and had on various dates stolen money from the petty cash. He was asked to hand in the cash book, and did not do so, and one night he left home to attend night school, and, instead of going there, he went to the office and set fire to the cash book and tried to destroy it. The waste-paper basket also caught alight, and the building was damaged. There were motor vehicles and benzine valued at £30,000 in the building, which was itself a very valuable block.
"This is a very serious offence—one of the most serious offences I have had before the Children's Court," said Mr. Stout.
The accused who was stated to have obtained work elsewhere, was placed under the supervision of the Child Welfare Department for a period of two years.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380826.2.35
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 5
Word Count
219YOUTH'S CRIME Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 5
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.