POLICE COURT NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17831, 12 July 1921, Page 3

POLICE COURT NEWS.

BOGUS DETECTIVE CASE. FOUR YEARS* PROBATION 7 ". The young man, Afthur Paul Poison, aged 27 (Mr. Sullivan), who was convicted on Friday of having aided and assisted another yonng man in the offence of unlawfully assuming the designation of a detective, appeared for sentence before Mr. J. W. Poynton. S.M., m the Police Court yesterdav. Mr. Sul iivan stated that the loan of" £30 and £5 interest had been repaid to the old lady Iroru whom it had been obtaiued, and he produced a receipt. Counsel submitted that the charge oi vagrancy had not. been legally proved and that the onlv offence disclosed by the evidence in regard to Poison was that he had trespassed on racecourses. The probation officer, the Rev F R Jeffreys, reporting on the case, said he favoured a period of probation for fon* years, which would admit of a reduction to two years if the behaviour of the younc man warranted that step. Special prohibitions should bo included in the order. The magistrate dismissed the vagrancy charge and placed accused on four*~vears' probation, imposing conditions requiring total abstinence from races, gambling, and liquor, and ordering: him to "pay costs. FIXED £10 FOR ASSAULT. As a result of an assault in Dominion Road on June 25, Frederick WilLaiu (Jostling, aged 47. was charged with having assaulted William Reavey. The circumstances were that trouble had arisen between tho two men in a boarding house some two weeks previously, and that they met one morning in Dominion Road. The complainsnt stated that he crossed over to accused and was standing talking to him with his hands at his side. Ho told accused he would hit him if he were worth it, but he did not make a threatening gesture. Accused then struck him three times on the head with his walking stick, inflicting scalp wounds that required stitching and treatment at the hospital. Corroborative evidence was given by two witnesses. Accused, in evidence, said he had been in the Cape Mounted Police in South Africa for five years, and had been discharged unfit. He had a weak heart and lung trouble and was suffering' from neurasthenia. He maintained that complainant used obscene language to him and struck him ou the mouth, whereupon he hit him with his stick iu self-defeni o. The magistrate said no words could justify an assault, and accused had no right to take the law into his own hands. He was fined £10 and £2 costs, half tho fine to be paid to the complainant. % " YOUTHS ADMIT ROBBERIES. Two youths from Wellington, Oiarles Ndrris, aged 16, and Herbert Roland Crawford 17, pleaded guilty to charges of having broken into several houses at Newmarket and one at Ponsonby, and stolen small articles, including an electric torch, a safety razor, and some small change. Detective McHugh read statements in which the lads admitted having committed several similar offences in Wellington, and having come to Auckland on June 29 with the intention of entering other houses if they could i|ot obtain/work. The accused were committed for sentence at Wellington. IMPRISONMENT FOR VAGRANCY. An old man, Francis Burk, who*had given himself up to obtain shelter and medical treatment in the gaol, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on a charge of vagrancy.