BOX OF BUTTER TAKEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22628, 16 January 1937, Page 16

BOX OF BUTTER TAKEN

; THEFT FROM CITY SHOP jit * . | CHARGES AGAINST TWO MEN <■ ■ Saying that he had formed the con- | elusion that the elder man had led the ' youth, who was weak and under some ? obligation to him, to do "the dirty Iwork," Mr. C. E. Orr Walker, S.M., I in the Police Court yesterday, senItenced Ernest Herbert Pearson, furrier, * to imprisonment, and admitted Thomas • Robert Reddy, labourer, aged 21, to | probation, on charges, which they' ad- | mitted, of stealing a box of butter falued at £3 12s 4d, the property of "Marriott's Stores, Limited. Detective-Sergeant McHugh said that on December 30 two boxes of butter ■were delivered to the rear entrance of a store in the city. Pearson entered the shop, standing by the door, and when Reddy appeared to'd him to take one of the boxes and put it in Pearson's car. They drove to a bach at Titirangi, and distributed some of the butter, but Pearson was still in possession of some when interviewed by the police. "Pearson endeavoured to place every obstacle in the way of the police," said Mr. McHugh. "He even asked Reddy to take the blame. We are quite satisfied from inquiries made —and evidence could have been brought to prove the case had the accused not pleaded guilty —that Pearson was the prime mover in the matter. He has a bad reputation, and led Reddy into trouble." Representing both accused, Mr. Noble referred to the case as one of "shoplifting on a big "scale." He asked that it he taken into consideration that Pearson had not been involved in any serious case of dishonesty for 20 years. "The circumstances indicate that there was a good deal of criminality about the theft, and the men should he punished," said the magistrate, in sentencing Pearson to 14 days' imprisonment and admitting Reddy to probation for two years.