WOMAN GAOLED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 18, 21 July 1939, Page 7

WOMAN GAOLED

RECEIVING GOODS

THEFTS BY SCHOOLGIRL

"ENOUGH TO STOCK A STORE"

/"Detectives found sufficient to stock a -store . in. this woman's -house/ said betective-Secgeant P. Doyle in th* Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, when a mother, and daughter, aged 1 39 and 18 respectively appeared before Mi. A. M. Goulding, S.M., and pleaded guilty to charges of receiving.. Ethel Grace Blackman admitted receiving

stolen property of a total value of £38 19s 2d, the property of the DJ.C. and others, and Olga Grace Blackmaa admitted receiving goods to a total value of £10* 15s iOd. It was stated by the police that i3-year-did daughter of the older accused, dealt* with that afternoon in the Children's Court, had taken goods from numerous stpres in the city and taken theni home^ , Ethel Grace Blackman was convicted and sentenced to three months' impfW sonment, and the daughter was con-/ victed and placed on probation for; a period of two years. ■ The Magistrate refused an application for suppression of their names, stating that the offences were too widespread and had extended, over too long a period, to justify him* adopting that course. •

"This is a singularly unfortunate' case," said the Magistrate, "but there,is\ always, generally speaking, \ muqU,. greater, difficulty in sheeting home receivers of stolen property than proving the actual thefts, and having, regard to' what the Detective-Sergeant.;Ha* told the Court, I am driven to the cotjlt, elusion that the mother and sister of the young child,-have in ; a sense, acr. tively participated in the thefts thafc she has committed over an extensive period. " The child has obyiously. been., supplied with money to go to town, and has frequently returned with stqlejt property which these • peopleVclearjiy, knew was stolen. 'Jn circumstances;; such as that I think the Court has"a duty to, the commercial community and the public to deal severely. wita this type of offence-" ' " ; , The two accused were mother-and, daughter, said Detective-Sergeant Doyle, describing the circumstances q£ the case, and the.girl from whom the property was allegedly received\wa3 another daughter, 13 years of age, who had already been dealt. with in; the Children's Court. At 5 pjn. on July 12 the woman in charge of the china department of a city store observed this school girl in. the department handling articles of crockery pn a display stand. She had previously seen \ the girl, and was somewhat suspicious of her actions. She got one of the assistants to watch her, arid the. girl wag seen to take an . unwrapped crystal bowl and place it in her shopping bag. When questioned she said ishe would not pay ; for it, but admitted taken, it from the counter. She "was- carrying an attache case. The matter was reported to the superintendent of thedepartment, who took1 the girl to the office and questioned-her. She refused to,give her name, and eventually DetectiveN. J. McPhee went to the store, andto him the girl gave her. name and; Address, admitting that she had stolen the: article. Inthe*, attache case wasa rhah's new overcoat, bearing a ticke^ arid price tag in the narrie^ of ainbthieic large store.. . . . ~ . , . "GETOUTOF MY HOUSE." < 1"' In' consequence of what the giri.tbtd detectives, she was taken to her homa by Detectives McPhee and S. C. Browne; and the mother was interviewed. She gave an explanation in which she said that she had supplied the girl with money to go to the city to buy groceries. She said she knew the girl had been to the city, but she'knew nothing whatever of the girl being associated with thefts, and nothing in . the nature of property had been taken, to her house, The detectives theli asked to have a look through the house, '_ and she gave her consent to that. On making1 a search in the mother's room they found a quantity of shoes and various other articles. The mother became hysterical and: exclaimed "You have found the stuff—how get out of my house." I :. Mr. Doyle read a list of, fourteen shops from which it was stated the goods were taken. The mother, hs said, explained to the detectives that all the property was stolen from shops in the city by her young daughter and taken home. The first time -the • girl had brought property-home, she said,' she had felt like taking it back in company with the child, but she thought that they might get into trouble. She had permitted the child to go! into the city' alone, sometimes three times "3* week for the past two months,"and;pn practically every occasion she brought home property which she ; had takeh from various shops. She knew the property ~ was- stolen, and - admitted wearing some of the articles. ', "There, is this to be said,".said Mr. Doyle. "The woman is a widow with, a large family, and it would appearthere was some ulterior, motive ,foe sending the child into the city if she was responsible for these thefts.- Whea the detectives wentf out that night the mother arid other members of the family were in bed, arid were not in the least concerned about the child being out." . ■ ,' _ : The younger accused, he • said, had ra certain' amount of property- in her possession, and she said she knew it was stolen, and had advised her sister not to bririg any more home. , She stated th^t she intended to get married earlynext year, and- used the property that the younger girl gave her' for lheß "glory box." CONTEMPLATED RETURN. , T ,■ Counsel for the accused (Mr. Ai-H, Macandrew) said that when the child first brought home property the mother1 asked her where she got the articles, arid on being told she pointed out the seriousness of her actions and told her not to indulge in shoplifting again. . She contemplated taking the goods/ta town and returning them, but she y^ai frightened because she thought that the child! might, get into trouble. However, said counsel, the.people were not well educated, and were not accustoijied to dealing with the ordinary affairs of life. The Court would readily understand their feelings and reluctance on that point. For a while .the child's thefts ceased, but she started again, and matters went from bad,to worse until there was a quantity j>f stuff taken home—not sufficient - to stock a shop, as Mr. Doyle had said, but quite a moderate amount. None of the stock was used except an umbrella and one pair o shoes, and the rest of the things were stowed away in the house. Practically all the. goods had been recovered in the condition, in which they must have been when taken. Mr. Doyle: I am sorry—-that is not . the case. The Magistrate, before imposing senjtence on the mother, said that she had obviously shown a serious lack of apipreciation of her duty to the Chfldrea. and- the community.