ALLEGED CATTLE STEALING.

Gisborne Times, Volume LII, Issue 5466, 29 April 1920, Page 2

ALLEGED CATTLE STEALING.

TWO MAORIS COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. .Before Mr J. S. Barton, S.M., at the Magistrate’s Court, yesterday, Joe llaera. alius .Toe Tupara (Mr Coleman; and Iriapa Tapete Kerekere (Mr Burnard) .were charged with having, at Patutahi, on the Oth day of April, 1020. committed the theft, by killing of a pedigree Hereford heifer, value £SO, the property of Randall Slierratt. Sub-Inspector Cassells conducted the prosecution. Richard Randall Slierratt, a slieepfarmer, living at Ngatapa, said he had some Hereford cattle running in a paddock at Patutahi on •the date mentioned in the information. lie valued them at about £SO eacii. No authority was given by witness to take or dispose of any of them. About tbc 1 (7th of April he visited the paddock and found one ot' the animals had gone. It was neither earmarked or branded. Tie had inspected the hide produced and it was exactly similar to that of the animal lie lost.

To Mr Bernard: Witness had heard of another heifer running about the district wild before the beast he lost was missed. There was, however, a distinction betwen the two. The first he saw of his animal was the skin. He did not see it lying dead. If a neighbour lost a lieifer in the same way be would not be able to distinguish between the skin of such an animal and one of his own.

Arthur Bates, in the employ of the previous witness, said that on the 11th April lie visited Mr Sherratt’s paddock at Patutahi, and found one of the cattle were missing. It was a Hereford breed and about 18 months old. The gates and fences were in good order. The missing animal was not earmarked or branded. Tbc skin produced in Court was similar to that of the missing beast. To Mr Coleman : He had no means oT swearing -positively that it was the skin of the missing animal, but depended on the marking peculiar id Hereford stock. lie had seen a wild half-bred beast wandering at large, but the distinction between the two animals would be easily noticeable. It was about ,a week prior to the 9th of April when he had last seen Mr. Sherratl’s beast.

.To llis Worship: There was' no possibility that the skin produced in Court was the half-bred animal. Alfred Gillman, a laborer, residing at Patutahi. deposed that on the 9th April last, at about 7.30, he saw a Maori driving a Hereford beast towards Waitui. Witness wont to the pah with Constable Maloney on the 12th inst., and there saw the accused .Toe Tupara. lie and the constable made a search for a hide there. They found the hide down on the river bank a few chains away from the pah. It had been bidden under some driftwood. The hide produced in Court was the one they found. Constable Maloney questioned Tupara about the beast missing Horn Patutahi. and on the constable asking the accused if he had driven the Beast up, he said “Yes.” To Mr Barnard: "Witness had seen another beast running about the roads for some considerable time. It did not have so much white on its skin as the one produced in Court. The animal running about was of the Hereford type, but he could not tell whether it was a pure-bred or only a halfbred.

Tlis Worship: “If the Court has no objection. I think the skin might be removed to the passage. It is the “strongest” piece of evidence that we have had here for some time.”

Henry Rickard said that on the 9th April he was camping in a travelling -,vhare near Patutahi. About 8 o’clock that evening a native came along to the whare and asked witness when he was going out. Witness said lie was not going out until the morning, and the native then asked him to be sure and shut the gate as he had two cows there and did. not: want them to get out. The native was mounted. The accused Kerekere was the native who came that night. To Mr Barnard: He was quite sure of Kerekero’s identity, as he had got a good look at him under l.'ie light on the evening in question. William Thomas Rickard, a shepherd living at Repongaere. and a brother of the previous witness, gave corroborative evidence. Rodney Dolman, a laborer, residing at Patutahi, deposed that on the morning of the 9th April he went to the Patutahi store, and on the way in saw a native, who was mounted, driving a .Hereford heifer towards the township. The native was the accused Tupara. To Mr Coleman: lie had seen the hri fer that used to roam round wild. This animal used to frequently get mixed up with other herds. To Sub-Im®.color Cassells: The heifer the native was driving along the road was not the same animal that had been roaming about wild. Ngarimu Tupara, a daughter of the accused Joe‘Tupara, said that on the Bth April. Iriapa Kerekere came into the kitchen with some knives. Slid heard Kerekere tell her father to sharpen their knives to go to Patutahi and kill a beast. It belonged to a European. Joe Tupara and Iriapa Kerekere went away to Patutahi. She saw the beast after it had been killed. A portion of it was brought for them to eat. Constable Maloney. Patutahi, said that on the 12th April last be went up to the pah at Waitui. He met Iriapa Kerekere and told him lie was looking for a beast that had been stolen. He told Kerekere that a native had been seen driving the heifer and .also described the horse lie was riding. Witness proceeded to a pah at Pakowhat, and on searching the place discovered part of a beast hanging in the cook-house. He searched down along by the river .and found the skin produceii' in Court. IT had been rolled up in a heap under some driftwood. He went to Waitui palt and saw the accused Joe Tupara. whom be arrested. Tupara then said. “Iriapa told me he had bought that heifer for £2 10s from a pakelia at Patutahi" Tupara said i Kerekere shot the lieifer with a shot gun, and that he helped him to kill and dress the beast. He showc-d iupara the hide he had found and Tupara said it was off the heifer they had killed. About midnight on April 13, Kerekere came to his house, saying that lie had come to “fix up this business about the heifer lie said, f 1 would give about £IOO if 1 could fix it up. Witness informed Kerekere that there would be no "fixing up. Kerekere then said, “I have fallen in over this business. -toe Tupara shot the heifer; the only thing I had to do with it was helping him to skin and dress it.” Kerekere came along to the Gisborne Police Station the next day and witness arrested him. The gun and cartridges produced in Court were handed to witness by a man at Kerekere’s whare. This closed the ease for the prosecution. Mr Barnard said that there were two matters which should bo considered before the accused should be sent for trial. On the point of identification of the skin of the animal, it seemed that the Crown case had failed to establish any proof whatever that it was the skin of the beast belonging to Mr Sherratt. The proved existence of another animal which had been seen roaming about irresponsibly for some time amongst other herds and which was very similar in color and markings, bought the proof of identification into still further doubt. The case should be dismissed before going any further. After reviewing the evidence, ITis Worship considered that a prima facie case laid been made out, and committed both the accused for trial at the Supreme Court, Gisborne, on the 15th June. Each accused was admitted to bail in his own recognisance of £IOO, with a surety of £IOO or two sureties of £SO each.