THEFT OF AN OVERCOAT

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 6 November 1933, Page 4

THEFT OF AN OVERCOAT

YOUNG MAORI CHARGED. GAOLED FOR A MONTH. At the Hawera Court this morning, before Messrs G. H. Buekeridge and J. M. Townsend, J.’sP., a young Maori who gave his name to the police as Tommy Edwards, was charged with the heft of an overcoat from the Okaiiwa Hall at the time of 4 the recent jubilee. After hearing the evidence of the police, accused was sentenced to imprisonment for a month. Sergeant Henry said that the coat stolen was the property of Edward Jennings, of Inaha, who had been at the ball at Okaiawa and had missed the coat. He saw accused wearing it on Saturday and had reported the matter to the police, Constable Lemm arresting the accused in Hawera! Accused, when questioned, persisted in stating his name to be ‘Tommy Edwards and that he had come to Hawera on a bicycle from Wellington. Eventually it was proved that his name was Eddie Nuku and that lie bad lived all his life in the Hawera district. The Sergeant said there had been a lot of coat thieving from dance halls arid it was not safe to leave coats in some dressing rooms. He stated that accused had been before the eourt on a more serious and he asked for a severe penalty as a warning to others. The Bench, in imposing a sentence of a month in gaol, said that, by giving the police Avrong information and causing so much trouble, accused had made his position worse. If he had helped the police, the Bench might haA r e taken a more lenient vieAV of the case. He Avould bo put where he had time to think o\mr Avhat he had done and must learn to respect other people’s property.