LAW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11855, 6 January 1902, Page 7

LAW AND POLICE.

;y':®';>:";?,-'-: : -' "; : ." v,■-: ■ : ..-.■-. .. >v ■. .. : y/• ■-: ■■: V : ' u ; ONEHUNGA POLICE COURT. ' 'Messrs. J as. Robertson and John Rowe, J.P.'s, presided ,at the Oneliunga Police CouH on Saturday morning. _ Alleged' Breaking and Entering: Frank Graf was charged, . on the information of Kate.Reid, with breaking and entering her dwelling-house ■ on December 26 ' last, and rt" " stealing therefrom the < sum of £1 and clothing valued at £3. 10s. .. Defendant pleaded not guilty. Kate Reid deposed that when -» the'returned from'the races at Ellerslie on §t t>ecember 26 she found the accused in her; bedroom' ■ He had effected an entrance ny •'• /forcing open the back door. • Slip, went - ana • informed Constable Tapp, followed by the flefendant. She then ,returned home, and on, searching the house found it had been ransacked. • She missed' a £1 note from'; under her pillow, and also the following ar- ! ticles, viz.: One dress, valued at £2 ss; a black skirt, valued at 12s 6d; a length of dress material, worth 13s; a blouse length, •■valued at 3s; a cabinet photograph, valued at 2s; and two dress belts, valued at 2s. The sewing-machine had been considerably damaged. . The accused knew her house well, he having boarded with her for 10 weeks and A-half. He ceased .to board with her about five months ago. He had no right to visit her house, and he certainly had no 'authority, to tako away her goods. By the Bench: The accused had frequently visited her house since ,ho ceased to be a boarder : he had ' done so to play on . her unprotected state. By the accused: She did not ask'him on Boxing Day-morning to see. her at half-past six o'clock that evening, 'neither was he in-' vited to join. her at breakfast that morning. She did not see accused take her property away from the house. None of the property, had been recovered so far as she i:mnv. Maggie Reid corroborated her mother's evidence. Kate Reid, another daughter or the informant, 13 years of age, deposed to being left in chargo of the house, together with a little brother, Jimmy, on December 26. Thny -went to play -in a shed. She did not pee accused enter the house. By the accused: At defendant's request she went on Christ-' ' inas Day to the hotel to fetch a sugar-bag , / containing rabbits, meat, and lemons, the property of the accused. He gave her some I money that day to share with her sisters. / ' Kate Reid, the informant, on being recalled I ,by the Bench, stated that the defendant owed i her £8 8s G'cl for board. She wrote to him ' for it on November 8, and 'stated where Cshe would meet him in Auckland. . Consable Foreman, stationed at Otahuhu, deposed to having searched the accused and. j also his bed, but did not find any of the missing property. He had known defendant for a number of years as an honest man, •but given to causing a row occasionally. After heating the. depositions of the' witt nesses read the defendant said: The offence .which lam charged with is wrong. I did not go to Mrs. Reid's house until three o'clock in the afternoon of December 26. I found the door open, so I. went in and laid down in the bed, as I have been accustomed "to do. After a short consultation the Bench; said the, defendant had not by any means been proven guilty; in fact, the evidence was not sufficiently incriminating to send, jtho caso.to the Supreme Court. -The charge would therefore be dismissed.