GANG OF YOUTHS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 16, 19 July 1939, Page 4

GANG OF YOUTHS

THEFT AND MISCHIEF

TELEPHONE ROBBERY

"MOST SERIOUS LIST"

.Nine youths, stated to belong to a gang that operated in a particular district in the city, appeared in the Children's Court yesterday afternoon, and pleaded guilty to numerous charges of car conversion, theft, and mischief. After the case had been disposed of .the Magistrate (Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M.) said that it was the most serious list he had ever had to deal with in the Children's Court, and lie trusted that it would be a long time before anything similar came before him.

One of the youths, aged 19, who pleaded guilty to 16 charges of unlawful conversion, 40 of theft, and 14 of mischief, was sentenced to three years in a Borstal institution. Another youth, aged 19, who admitted one charge of unlawful conversion and two of theft, was admitted to probation for eighteen months. Probation for three years was extended to a youth aged 18 who adjmitted three charges of unlawful con-; i version and two of theft, a .condition being that he is not to own or drive a motor vehicle during that period, and j a second youth aged 13, who admitted; ! two charges of unlawful conversion, 14 of theft, and two ■of mischief, was also placed on probation for three years under the same conditions. Five charges of unlawful conversion were admitted by a youth a year younger, and he was placed on probation for j two years, the same conditions being stipulated. Four juveniles were involved, one, aged 16, admitting 16 charges of unlawful conversion, 27 of theft, and three of mischief, and another, of the same age, admitting seven charges of unlawful conversion, 21 of theft, and one of mischief. The remaining two defendants were aged 15, one admitting 14 charges of unlawful conversion, 28 of theft,, and 14 of mischief, and the other five charges of unlawful conversion and two of theft. The juveniles were all placed under j the care of the Superintendent of Child Welfare. , . Besides the Magistrate, there were; on the Bench Mrs. A. Me Vicar and Mr. G. L. Stewart, associate members of the Children's Court. j Detective-Sergeant P. Doyle, who prosecuted, said that the depredations of the accused would have been j brought to a close earlier if they had not adopted the cunning method of using stolen number-plates on the cars converted. That was why they had escaped detection so long. Mr. Doyle, who outlined the movements of the youths as far as they could be ascertained by the police, first described a number of car conversions which had been admitted, some of them, being accompanied by damage to/ the cars. On several occasions telephone boxes in suburbs had been broken open, and the contents stolen. One of the converted cars had been driven to; Grey town by the youths who had taken, it, and before doing so they haicl:! changed the number plates. This car was badly damaged. :' - ; 1 The activities of the youth's^--yter'e I traced until the night of July X' On, that night,- said Mr. Doyle, several of; the youths drove to Karori and there; started looking for a car to tak&They removed one car, but this did not suit their requirements, and they took another, and stole a travelling rug from the garage. Eventually they came across a more powerful vehicle belong- j ing to a doctor. In this they went to JOhiro Bay, where they broke into a 1 shed at the rear of a petrol station and one of the boys turned on the electricity while petrol was put in the car. DROPPED OVER VIADUCT. In this car they travelled to the Hutt Valley and committed theft of fourteen telephones and contents in the district. The stolen telephones were put either in the luggage compartment or in the rear of the car, and the youths returned .to Wellington. At the Kelburn Viaduct they dropped one of the telephones over to break it open, and the others were taken round and hidden at St. John's Pool. On the following morning the boys went in a converted car to where the telephones had been hidden and took some of them to Makara Hill and others to Karori Road j and broke them open. On their return to the city they stole two gallons lof benzine in a street off Tinakori Road. The total value of the motor-cars taken was £4745, said Mr. Doyle, and the vehicles were damaged to the extent of £156 10s 9d. In four cases the motor-cars taken were the property of doctors. Through changing the registration plates the recovery of cars was delayed until the theft of the plates had been reported to the police, and in some cases car owners were deprived of the use of their vehicles for a week, or even more. "In regard to the damage to telephone boxes," said Mr. Doyle, "it left the district actually without a public telephone that could be used on that occasion, and unfortunately the Post and I Telegraph Department was not in a position to replace them at once. In addition, there was a staff of detectives I engaged constantly night and day for !at least a fortnight endeavouring to detect these offenders, and when they were finally interviewed some of them j frankly admitted to Detective J. G. Long that they knew the police cars, knew their colour, and knew their numbers. That was why they evaded detection so long. I cannot say any more except that the offences are of the most serious nature." The damage to the telephone boxes was stated to amount to £454 7s Id and the cash taken to £19 17s 4d. Mr. J. A. Scott, who appeared for one of the boys, aged 15, said that one would hesitate to think that a lad of 15 years of age should be sent to such a place as the Weraroa Training Farm, where perhaps he would learn a little more than he knew at the present time. He suggested that it might be worth the while of the Court to impose some strict form of supervision. "TREATED AS A JOKE." "The point about these juveniles is that they have all been under supervision before, and they have all apparently treated it as a joke," said the Magistrate. "Two of them have, on previous occasions, been convicted of car conversion, and they must realise the seriousness of the charge. It does I not ■seem to me, that I can consider any of these boys any differently from the others. The public must be protected against these offences." Referring to the boy of 19, against whom 70 charges were preferred, Mr. F. W. Ongley said that in April last a companion the boy had known ar« j rived back from Weraroa, the boy was led into bad ways, and the rest followed. The whole trouble started | i when he met his companion of earlier j 'days. ' ■ ! I "You have been given a chance be-J fore, you have been put on probation. [and you must have gone into this with | your eyes open," said the Magistrate ito the -defendant, before imposing the Borstal sentence. "You must have realised the seriousness of car conversion, and still you have gone on with it. You have really been the-,

worst offender, a.nd I would not be doing my duty unless I put you somewhere where you would get strict discipline." ■

Mr. J. Meltzer, who appeared for the second boy of 19, against whom one charge of unlawful conversion and two of theft were preferred, said that the youth had taken a minor part, and of all the boys had least to do with the series of offences. He was confident that the boy would never again be seen before the Court.

Mr. W. P. Rollings, who appeared for one of the youths, aged 13, said that the boy was concerned in only three conversions, and on each occasion "went along with the rest of the gang." The boy was more fortunate than most in that he owned a car, but he was quite agreeable that it should be.taken away, and that he should be prohibited from driving.

The parents of several of the youths involved in the offences spoke to the Court before sentence was passed.