WAHINE ROBBERY

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 April 1929, Page 3

WAHINE ROBBERY

HARD LABOUR PREFERRED.

(Per Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, April 17. Thomas Gordon and Arthur Henry William Bevan, two young men, whp bad pleaded guilty to the theft of . postal packets from the- ferry steamer Wahine, appeared before Mr. Justice MacGregor to-day for sentence. Counsel for Bevan said that he appeared to have been the mug in the affair, as the police did not suggest that he had done anything more thap keep the watch to see that no one interfered. Counsel for Gordon skid that he had worked since he was eleven years old, and as a youth he had worked for SQpie years in a racing stable. He had taken the full responsibility for the robbery, and he desired to be sentenced to a term of hard labour. The Judge: Why does he want hard labour? Counsel: He realises that he can’t expect too much leniency, and that physical work will perhaps do him good. The Judge: I mean, what did he have before? Counsel: Reformative detention! The Judge: I see; and he did not like it! The Crown Prosecutor said that the police regarded Gordon as a person of very bad reputation, and as the makings of a daring criminal. The Judge said that Gordon seemed to be fast becoming a hardened criminal. He had asked for hard labour, and he would get it. He would be sentenced to three years’ hard labour. Bevan was ordered Borstal treatment for two years. A sum of £l6, which was found on Bevan, and which was admitted to be part of the proceeds of the robbery, was ordered to be returned to the Postmaster General.