STUDENT'S LAPSE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 13

STUDENT'S LAPSE

CAREER OF CRIME

TRIP THROUGH DOMINION MOTORING AND FLYING PROBATION FOR TWO YEARS "If tliis is tlio result of a cappingdny crime, it should ho a warning fo others who arc inclined to let themselves go 011 capping day," said Mr. W. R. McKcan, S.M., in the 'Police Court yesterday, when William Lloyd Alexander, aged 21, farm hand, appeared on four charges. . Accused, wlio was represented by Mr. Moody, admitted charges of converting a motorcar valued at £2OO, the property of the Gold Hand Taxi Company, of Christchurch, of stealing £5 from Albert George Parker, of Christchurch, of obtaining credit for £5 by fraud from Albert George Parker and of obtaining credit for £1 bv fraud from Kdwin Olliver Bennett, at Auckland.

Senior-Detective Hall said that on April 10 accused went to a Christchurch boarding house, where he received credit for board valued at £5. He was later handed £5 by flio proprietor of the boarding house and asked to buy some eggs, but he did not return. Hiring a rental car, he drove to Blenheim, then Hew to Wellington and later came to Auckland, where he obtained lodging by false pretences. The car was not located in a Blenheim garage until Juno 28, when accused was arrested, and tho biro of it for that time, together with the cost of returning it, amounted to £3(5 ss.

Statements in Letter Accused was regarded by tlie police as n real impostor, continued Mr. Hall. A hypodermic syringe, for which ho could not account, had been found on liiin, together with ft letter to ft reinlive, which read: "1 am about to commence breaking so ninny laws that I suppose it is inevitable that t should bo caught sooner or later. My intentions are to steal a car which I have marked down, go round to Parker's and lift the cashbox and go for my life toward Blenheim to wait overnight for ft plane to Wellington. From Wellington I will make as fast as 1 can to Auckland, where I shall probably think out some fresh villainv."

The only previous conviction against accused was for the theft of petrol on capping day, 1934, when he was a student at the Ota go University. Comment by Magistrate "He is more to be pitied, than blamed," said Mr. Moody, who said that accused's trouble had dated from the time he was fined £2 for the theft of the petrol. Apparently the magistrate in Dunedin had not had experience of human nature or had not shown the mercy sometimes extended to first offenders, and as a result of tho conviction accused had to leave tho university, where he was studying dentistry, and get work on a farm. Counsel asked for leniency so that the earlier mistake might be rectified. "It looks as if lie intended to embark on a short career of crime," said Mr. Mc-Kean. "1 think there is something abnormal about tho young man." Accused was admitted to probation for two years and ordered to make restitution of £3l to the taxi company, £lO to Mr. Parker and £4 to Mr. Bennett, a total of £45.