CAUGHT ON PREMISES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19320, 6 May 1926, Page 12

CAUGHT ON PREMISES.

ARREST OF HOTEL CHEF. CHARGE OF THEFT DENIED. A VERDICT OF ACQUITTAL. A caso with somo unusual features, in which a hotel chef found by waiting detectives in a shop on a Sunday afternoon pleaded not guilty to breaking, entering and theft and was acquitted, caino before Mr. Justice Stringer at tho Supreme Court yesterday.

Tho charge was against Richard Waugh, chef at tho Albert Hotel, who was alleged to have broken into the premises of Hart Bros., Ltd., next door, and to have stolen a tablecloth valued at £2 9s 6d. Alternatively, ho was charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit a crime. Mr. V. R. Meredith appeared for the Crown and Mr. G. P. Finlay for the accused. Mr. Meredith stated that for some time goods had been missed from ITart Bros, premises, especially during week-ends. As a result, it was arranged that two detectives should wait in tho shop on the afternoon of Sunday, February 28. Ihe two mon, Detectives Craigie and Smyth, were conducted in by Chief-Detective Cummings and TNIr. IS. Hart, who left them in different departments. What a Detective Saw. About an hour later Craigie, who was watching the basement door into the backyard, heard someone manipulating it. Waugh then entered. The detective saw him walk about, lake £oods off the shelves and replace them and finally take up a tablecover, put it. under his arm, and walk away. Ho was then arrested and handcuffed. His explanation was that ho had found the back door open, and as Mr. Hart was a friend of his he had entered to see if anything was wrong.

The door, said counsel, led into a yard which adjoined that of the Albert Hotel, into which access was had through the hotel kitchen. There was a gate communicating from one yard to the other. After Waugh's arrest the police found that the warehouse door, which had been tried just previously and proved secure, had been opened with a screwdriver. The door opened outwards, and one screw of the bolt socket on the doorpost had been removed, so that the socket swung round and allowed the door to bo opened. A small screwdriver was lying nearby. A lock of the gate between the yards had been similarly treated and a padlock on the gate was found open. Waugh, as chef, had regular access to the backyard of the hotel. Heavy Losses to Firm. Bernard Hart, managing director of Hart Bros., Ltd.,' stated that for somo time beforo February 28 goods had been missed from the shop. After one weekend between £4OO and £SOO worth was found to be gone. The police evidence showed that no goods suspected of having been stolen from Hart Bros, were found in Waugh's house. Waugh, giving evidence on his own behalf, said that after finishing his mid-day work lie went out into, the yard for some fresh air. 110 had heard sounds in Hart Bros.' premises, and on noticing, to his surprise, that tHo gate was unlocked, he went through. The door was open and ho went iii to see if anything was the matter. In mere curiosity he picked up a tablecover, and as he was looking at the price-label Detective Craigie seized and handcuffed him. Under Observation. Mr. Finlay submitted that Waugh's explanation was complete, and that under the circumstances he could not have had any dishonest intent. .He was a conspicuous figure in his whito overalls. The yard was overlooked by numbers of windows and he could not have removed so large a parcel as the tablecover without risk of being seen. Several fire-escapes led down into the yard and it was possible that the man who opened the door had gained access that way. To have got away with the goods, Waugh would have had to run the gauntlet of his own men in the kitchen. Mr. Meredith pointed out that the detective stated definitely that Waugh had examined a quantity of goods and had walked away with the cloth. As Waugh entered immediately after sounds were heard at the closed door, the inference was that he had opened it. As for the search of his home, would a thief of any intelligence take stolen goods there ? After 35 minutes' deliberation the jury found Waugh not guilty and he was discharged.