2nd NZEF Deserter Arrested At Paparoa

Northern Advocate, 25 August 1948, Page 6

2nd NZEF Deserter Arrested At Paparoa

3 ! AUCKLAND, Wed. (Sp.) Military ! detention for 154 days, and one year s | imprisonment with hard labour were i the sentences passed on two volunteers ! in the 2nd NZEF who were charged j with desertion before a court martial hat Papakura Military Camp yesterday. Gunner James Newton Keenan, 39, | was charged with deserting His Maj- ! esty's Forces in that at Perth on Janu- | ary 3, 1941, he absented himself with--l out leave until he was apprehended | by civilian police at Wellington on June ID, 1947. 1 Sapper Albert Charles Joass. 22. was ‘ charged with deserting at Fremantle 1 j on May 12. 1940. j He was arrested by police at Papaproa on July 22, 1948. Both men pleaded not guilty, r Mr S. C. Clarke, for Keenan, said lie had had a few drinks at Fremantle and : went to a party. On his way back to ; join his ship he was accosted by three : Australian soldiers. He ‘'took them 1; on” and was knocked out. After hav- | ing his head wound stitched at the

' hospital- he returned to the waterfront ’ and saw the convoy sailing. ‘ Keenan had served in various ships throughout the war. later returning to 1 New Zealand and serving in coastal ships in 194 C and 1947 INVOLVED IN BRAWL Joass said he also went to a party j at Fremantle, involved in a 1 brawl, and was knocked out. Concluding that his ship had sailed, he ob- ! tained civilian jobs, j After being rejected for the AIF he I enlisted in the Militia under an asI sumed name. He served in Noumea H qn d New Guinea. His total service in ’ the AIF was 1569 days. | He had married in Australia, said 1 i accused, and he returned to New Zea- , I land in 1946, his wife and child follow- ’ | ing. He lived quite openly in Auckland. resuming his own name. Recently he went to work at Papa10a, where he was arrested. Keenan received one year’s imprisj onment with hard labour, and Joass „ 154 days’ military detention. The find- [. ings and sentences arc subject to conr . firmation. j Captain Mason submitted that ignor- . an.ee of military law prevented Joass l from taking steps to report his absence. He thought, that when he missed his s ship he was’already classed as a del sorter. He used an assumed name - when he volunteered a second time in Australia to ensure that he would not j be rejected again on account of his j medical record.