COURT NEWS

Grey River Argus, 13 May 1932, Page 7

COURT NEWS

A BIGAMIST. — (Per Press Association). NEW PLYMOUTH, May 11. In the Magistrate’s Court to-day, John Francis Johns pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy, having gone through a form of marriage with Margaret West at Waitara on April 7, 1932, when ha already had married Emma Eliza Kimber, at Riccarton, on April 22, 1913. He was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. THEFTS BY P.O. CLERK. CHRISTCHURCH, May 12. Charged with the theft from the Post and Telegraph Department of £lB3, Edward Joseph Robb, a clerk, aged 39, was to-day remanded till May 17. The police said that accused had been in charge of the stamp department at th® Post Office, and was missing from work on Tuesday when the shortage was found. He had made full confession. RADIO THEFTS. DUNEDIN, May 11. At the Police Court, Albert Edward Arthur Hamilton pleaded guilty to stealing radio sets in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington. The police stated Hamilton was discharged from prison two days before the Wellington offence. He booked at an hotel, then went to Levestam and Co ’.s, obtaining a set on approval, which he afterwards sold to a second-hand dealer for £6. The accused then went to Christchurch, where, it was alleged, he obtained a radio set in a similar fashion and also adopted the same procedure in Dunedin. Hamilton was sentenced to three mouths’ imprisonment with hard labour on the Dunedin and Wellington charges. He was remanded to Christchurch on the other charge. £75 FINES ON MOTORISTS. (Per Presg Association). AUCKLAND, May 11. The difficulty of dealing with charges arising from fatal motor accidents, when the accused persons are of excellent character, and there is no suggestion of intoxication, was mentioned by Justice Herdman, in the i Supreme Court, when sentencing two men, both of whom were stated to have excellent records. John Thomas Kite and Frank Victor Lester were each fined £75 (six months being allowed in which to pay). The Judge said that such men were not criminals in the sense that a thief, burglar or forger was a criminal. “In these cases, the intent to do injury is always absent. The fault consists in the failure to take sufficient care. Still, the loss of life caused by careless drivers, is becoming so frequent, and the misery and injury caused to relatives, so great, that I may have to consider, if these offences do not diminish, whether imprisonment instead of being the exception, should be made the rule. ’ ’ A “RIOT” OVERCOAT. AUCKLAND, May 10. George Harvey Cornish, a billiards marker, aged nineteen years, came before the Police Court yesterday on a charge of drunkenness. When he called back at the watch-house to pick up his property, it was discovered that the overcoat he was wearing when arrested was one of the many stolen from the shop of Horace Bull, Ltd., after the windows had been smashed on the night of the big riot. Cornish appeared again this morning, charged with stealing the overcoat and alternatively with receiving the garment. “1 was working in a billiards saloon two nights the riot, when a casual acquaintance came in and asked me if I would like a coat which was too big for him,” Cornish told the Magistrate. The Magistrate dismissed the charge of theft, but convicted Cornish on the receiving charge, fining him £5 or 21 days’ imprisonment. WANTON DESTRUCTIVENESS. (Per Pr AsMnoiqfion ». AUCKLAND, May 12. Disappointed after breaking into a clothing factory, at not being able to steal the clothing they wanted, two youths deliberately and wantonly damaged cloth and wool valued at £IOC. Admissions to this effect were made by Arnold Colin Barker, aged 17, and Ernest Edward Davies, aged 19, both labourers, who were committed to-day for sentence. The manager of one of the firms who suffered, said that rolls of cloths had been undone and draped round the interior of the building, and 338 heads of wool had been cut through and 126 others damaged by being strewn around the floor. In addition 280 yards of flannel and 281 yards of shirting were hacked through and utterly ruined. Accused left a message, “We are quits now,” although neither had been employed by the firm before. One said that the only reason they did the damage was disappointment at not being able to steal any clothing.