NOT BELIEVED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 61, 14 March 1939, Page 11

NOT BELIEVED

YOUTH'S ALLEGATION

"FORCED" TO MAKE STATEMENTS

Alleging that he was forced by detectives to make statements admitting three charges of theft, John Harry Quittenden, a kitchenman, aged 18, pleaded not guilty when the charges against him were read in the Magistrate's Court today. After evidence had been heard the Magistrate (Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M.) said that he did not believe the accused, and convicted him on all the charges. One • charge concerned the theft of a shirt, one the theft of £1 10s in money, and the other the theft of a sheet valued at ss. The accused was employed by the New Zealand Railways at Marton, said Detective-Sergeant P. Doyle, prosecuting, and the complainants in the matter were also railwaymen employed there, and occupied rooms with the accused. The offences were committed in February from the rooms occupied by the complainants, and the accused came under suspicion. When interviewed by Detectives Scott and Urquhart at Wellington he admitted. quite frankly "that he had committed the offences. Detective C. Urquhart produced statements which he and Detective Scott had taken from the accused. This was all the evidence given by the prosecution. The Magistrate then asked the accused whether' he wished to question the witness. "1 would like to know why you forced me to make these statements," said the accused. "Force you? I did not force you at all," said witness. "I think he was quite frank about it," he added to the Magistrate. Giving evidence on his own benall, Quittenden said that when questioned he told the detectives he did not take the .things, and they forced him to make statements to the effect that he did, and after that they went through his belongings and found the sheet. He was forced to make a statement to the effect that he took that, too, whereas he brought it to Wellington by mistake after doing some laundering. Detective-Sergeant Doyle: Where were those statements taken from you? —At-the detective office. Other members of the detective staff were present, were they not, when they were taken?—No, sir. Were you not in the detective office and spoken to by other members of the staff, apart from the two detectives who took these statements from you? —Yes, I think so. You were spoken to by nic, were you no t?—I don't remember. Questioned further, . witness said that he did not make any complaint to Detective-Sergeant Doyle or any other member of the staff. He had previously given statements to the police, he said. The Magistrate said he wanted me accused to read the last paragraph of the statements and look at his signature, the last paragraph read: "I "have read this statement over, and it is true, and made of my own free will." Why did the accused want to sign that in his own handwriting if he said he was forced to make the statement, said the Magistrate. "I don't believe for one moment the truth of what you say, Quittenden," said the Magistrate. "I am satisfied that you made the statements of your own free will, i only hope that this experience will have been a lesson to you because from what has happened in the past, and what has happened here today, if this \ sort of thing continues there is,only one place you will finish in, and that is gaol." Quittenden was convicted on each charge and admitted to probation for a period of eighteen months, a condition being that he engages in farm work within reasonable distance of his own home.