THEFT CHARGE DENIED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19891, 9 March 1928, Page 12

THEFT CHARGE DENIED.

SUITCASES OF SAMPLES.

GOODS LEFT IN A GARAGE.

TWO YOUNG MEN ON TRIAL

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] HAMILTON, Thursday.

Two young men, Ira George Land and Bernard Francis Murray, pleaded not guilty, before Mr. Justice Blair and a jury in the Hamilton Supreme Court today, to charges of breaking and entering the garage of C. F. Washer at Tauranga on January 27 and stealing seven suitcases and their contents, 1 valued at £95, the property of Jacksons, Ltd., Auckland. The accused were also charged with receiving stolen goods.

Mr. H. T. Gillies, Crown solicitor, prosecuted, and Mr. A. L. Tompkins represented the accused. Cecil Frederick Wusher, garage proprietor, Tauranga, said' that on the night of January 27 an Auck'and commercial traveller named Freeman left his car, which contained a number of sample cases, in his garage. Witness left the premises at 11 p.m. Ho passed the garage at midnight and everything was then apparently in order. When he went to work at eight o'clock next morning he found that the door of the garage liad been burst open. Evidence of Traveller.

A commercial traveller, George Edward Freeman, said that oil January 27 he was travelling for Jacksons, Ltd., Auckland, in Tauranga, He carried in the back of his car seven suitcases filled with samples of clothing. Shortly before eight o'clock he was driving in the car from the domain when Land asked him for a lift. Witness complied with the request and left him at the Town Hall. Accused could have seen the samples in the car and could have seen witness put his car into the garage. At nine o'clock next morning, continued witness, he went to his car and found that the seven suitcases had disappeared. Two days later he identified three of the cases and their contents at the Hamilton police station. Witness valued the goods at £BS and the suitcases at £lO, a total of £95. A boy named Gordon Frank Washer said that at 7.30 p.m. on January 27 he saw a man watching his father's garage at Tauranga. He was one of the two accused, but he was not sure which one it was. Ho later saw the two accused saunter past the garage several times, and then he saw 7 them drive by in a yellowtopped motor-van. Samuel Snowden, blacksmith, Tauranga, said he slept on a verandah near Washer's garage on January 27. He was awakenod by the noise of articles being thrown into a van and he saw a yellow-topped van drive away from the vicinity of the garage. He was suspicious and rang the police next morning, telling them of what he had heard. He distinctly saw the two men in the van. Some Goods Pound in Van.

Thomas Leslie Kelly, boot salesman, Claudolands, said that Murray approached him on Saturday, January 28, and asked him to look after a suitcase for him. Witness later handed the suitcase over to tho police. ' Sergeant Cullotty said he found a quantity of the stolen goods in a parcel in a motor-van driven by Murray in Hamilton on January 28. Murray denied any knowledge of where the goods came from, and gave a written statement to this effect. Witness said he recovered a pair of hose from Murray's mother. Murray said he had found the hoso in the varn Murray had an opportunity' of conversing with Land and tlien submitted a further statement in which he said he bought two suitcases and their contents from a man he and Land had picked up at Tauranga. Witness said ho searched tho house of the prisoner Land and found two of tho stolen suitcases on the premises. Tho third suitcase was obtained from Kelly. Land told witness that Murray could toll tho police about the goods. Ho denied any knowledge of tho Tauranga theft. This closed tho case for tho Crown. \ One Accused Gives Evidence.

Ira George Land said ho was a brush manufacturer at Hamilton. Murray was employed by him as caflvasser. On January 26 ho and Murray visited Tauranga where they canvassed the sale of brushes. Witness detailed his movements at Tauranga. Ot?. January 27 ho played billiards and did a good deal of drinking during tlio evening. He and Land camped on tho Tauranga beach during tho night. Prisoner denied nil knowledge of the theft. He said that when leaving Tauranga for Hamilton on January 28, Muriay, who was driving, picked up a stranger outside Tauranga. Prisoner was dozing at the time. The stranger put some irito tlio vail. When they arrived at Matamata <lie. stranger left them, but before lie went ho sold Murray the suitcases and their contents. To Mr. Gillies, Land said he did not refer to the stranger Murray picked up in his statement to the police because ho did not know that ho was to bo charged with theft.

To tho Judge, Land said his statement to the police that- Murrpy was away during tho whole of the night of January 27 was not correct.

Alexander Watson, plasterer, Tauranga, said he was flat fishing at Tauranga on the evening of January 27. lie saw the two accused, who wore camped alongside a nWor-van on the Tauranga beach that night. It was about 11.30 p.m. and the men wero preparing their beds for the night. Ho lived nearby and did not hear the van movo during tlio night. When he saw tho vehicle next morning it did not appear to have been moved. This concluded the defence and the Court adjourned until to-morrow.