Converted Tyres, Rim From Motor Truck

Northern Advocate, 15 November 1941, Page 2

Converted Tyres, Rim From Motor Truck

TSpecial to “Northern Advocate"! KAIKOHE, This Day. “I plead guilty to taking the tyres but not guilty to thieving them,” said William Patrick Smith, a native of Peria, when charged with the theft of tyres and rims valued at £l7 at a sitting of the Kaikohe Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Constable D. Robertson, prosecuting, stated that accused visited a shed containing a truck and removed two tyres and rims. The owner of the truck, Mr. King, had traded it in for a car and had left the truck in the shed to be called for by the purchaser when convenient. Accused had no authority whatsoever to take the articles. Thought Never Used Richard Smith stated that he had travelled to Peria in a truck driven by accused. They had several punctures on the way, and although he was not present at the time, he knew the tyres and rims had been taken off the truck in the shed when they had stopped there on the way, and put on their own truck. This took place at about 9 or 10 o’clock on Sunday morning. It was arranged that the tyres be returned within the next fortnight. The truck had been left in the shed for the last few years and they did not know it was ever used. “It seems to me that you might have considerable difficulty in proving that there is a case of theft here,” stated Mr. Raymond Ferner, S.M., addressing Constable Robertson. The charge was then reduced by Constable Robertson to one of unlawful conversion and accused admitted the facts and pleaded guilty. “This defendant took French leave of the tyres and rims,” said the magistrate, “and people must keep their hands off other people’s property.” Smith was convicted and ordered to pay expenses amounting to £5/12/3 and to come up for sentence if called upon within the next six months.