THEFT CHARGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22794, 30 July 1937, Page 15

THEFT CHARGE

HOTEL BAR INCIDENT LABOURER FOUND GUILTY REMANDED FOR SENTENCE The hearing of the charge against Thomas "William Avery, labourer, aged of stealing £l4 from the person of John Moffat. Tnrnbull in a city hotel bar on May 1, was concluded beiore Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court yesterday. The Crown prosecutor, Mr. V. R. Meredith, conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Sullivan appeared for the defence. Addressing the jury, Mr. Sullivan submitted that tho evidence for the Crown was ragged and unsatisfactory. Mr. Meredith pointed out that part of one of tho banknotes torn in the struggle between Turnbull and accused was in TurnbulPs possession, while the main part of the same note was tendered by accused in a bar. The suggestion now made by accused that it was Turnbull who tried to rob him had not been made when Avery was asked for explanation by police and detectives. His Honor said the case was a simple one and should not require the jury's attention for very long. Their decision would chiefly depend on whether or not they believed the witness Turnbull. Accused was found guilty and was remanded for sentence. FAILURE OF PROSECUTION PROMPT DECISION BY JURY A sum of 7s 6d was involved in the charge against Felix Quigg, fireman, aged 45 (Mr. Noble), whose trial before Mr. Justice Callan at the Supremo Court was completed yesterday. It was alleged bv the Crown that Quigg stole 7s 6d from the person of James Hamblin in the bar of a city hotel on April 29. In summing up, His Honor said that, suspicious as tho jury might be, the question was, did the evidence of the Crown put aside as out of the question other possibilities, such as that someone else stole the money or that Hamblin lost it in his drunken state? The jury returned almost immediately with a verdict of not guilty, and accused was discharged.