Drunken Escapade Led To Court

Northern Advocate, 13 June 1947, Page 8

Drunken Escapade Led To Court

What Detective-Sergeant J. B. Finlay described as a drunken escapade led to the appearance in the Whangarei Court today of two soldiers.

One was charged with having stolen tobacco, cigarettes and chewing gum, valued at £46/14/2. the property of the Railways Department, while the other was charged with receiving. Both elected summary jurisdiction and pleaded guilty. Detective-Sergeant Finlay said that the men, who were on final leave with J Force, had left Auckland by train, in company with two other soldiers. They had had four dozen bottles of beer and only three bottles had been left when they arrived at Whangarei. Two youths, who had run away from home, had been located the following morning at Kaikohe in possession of tobacco and had told the police they had obtained it from soldiers on the train. BETWEEN STATIONS

It appeared that two of the soldiers, one of whom was not before the court, had gone all over the train between stations and taken the tobacco from a truck .It had been brought back to the carriage, where the four soldiers had decided to sell the tobacco on the black market and share the proceeds. None of the tobacco, except a small quantity found in the possession of the boys located at Kaikohe, had been recovered.

The two soldiers before the court were of good character and had been led into a drunken escapade by one of the other two soldiers. Both said that if they had been sober they would not have entered into the escapade. When they had sobered up they had been worried about what had occurred and had welcomed the police inquiries. Both soldiers asked for suppression of their names.

The magistrate (Mr W: C. Harley) convicted both and admitted them to probation for six months. Each was ordered to make restitution to the Railways Department of £lO and to take out a prohibition order. Their names were suppressed