POLICE COURT NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17375, 23 January 1920, Page 8

POLICE COURT NEWS.

, ■" .. / .'TV ■> THEFT OF BICYCLES. 't

'PROBATION ON STRICT TERMS!

/ A mania : for stealing bicycles ; led to & i young man aamed Sinclair Gordon Wilson ' (Mr. Oliphant) being brought before Mr. J> E. Wilson, S.M., in the Police Court yes- & terday. He was charged with having stolen seven bicycles, of a total value of £52 Bs, •daring the jieriod November 25 to January % 16.' Ho pleaded* guilty, ; | 9 L Chief-Detective McMalion stated that ihti bicycles had been stolen from outside build- ; ings where they had been left by meit.jeniger boyz. • •• ■'' v Counsel, and the senior probation officer, v ,-tba Rev. P. R. Jeffreys, Doth asked that % the accused be given a final chance. He was only 22, an ago at which imprisonment 'would have not an improving, but rather a detrimental, effect upon him. ' - ' Tho magistrate said lie realised that the accused had not hud the advantage of the ; best training in his youth._ He would' be placed on informal probation -with strict conditions, for three years, as Mr. Jeffreys had suggested, and ordered to make restitution. ' ' 1

8 . UNPROVOKED ASSAULT. ■ A charco cf having struck Joseph Don* . nelly on the head with a bottle Wfs denied by William Smith. The informant gave evidence that on Wednesday night he was accosted in the street by tho accuse!, whom lie did not know. The accused se .'mod "a, -bit excited," and alter a slight altercation Tetruck him with his fist. Informant was felled by tie blow, and during tho struggle on the ground he was struct on the head by a bottle. Later ho found that one of two bottles cf beer he was carrying in his pocket was missing. .An independent witness said he taw smith strike the blow .with the bottle. When interviewed by the 'police-accused said be "Supposed he' had done wrong." < , Asked by tho magistrate for an explanation of his conduct, the accused replied, drink was in me. I didn't mean any harm." • V The magistrate said that such unpro.yoked assaults could not bo met with a •fine, and sentenced Smith to 14 chvs' in*.-gris-Jiiaient.

I IMPRISONMENT FOR THEFT.. p

X Janes O'Brien camo up for sentence on a charge of having stolen a gold watch worth £5 IDs, tie property of William Doherty. The theft was committed , while Deherty was asleep. Chief-Detective McMahdn stated that tee watch had not been ret covered, and that O'Brien considered that if ha ware released far a few days he could .'regain.-.possession of it. Tho magistrate would Mt agree to this course, however, and sentenced the accused to three months' ' .imprisonment with htrd' labour.

| ALLEGED INDECENT ASSAULT. *' A charge cf having indecently assaulted a boy of 12 years oa the waterfront on January 13 was denied by Henry Jame*. ~Fitzgib:xms. After the evidence for thtf prosecution had been taken the accused was j committed to the Supremo Court for trial.

K: L DRUNKENNESS. J. _, . v s r ji'A eeisond offence of inebriety resulted in plenty Edward Wright being fined 10s.