WALLET STOLEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23011, 12 April 1938, Page 16

WALLET STOLEN

DENIAL BY THREE MEN WAR PENSIONER ACCOSTED SENTENCES OF IMPRISONMENT The action of a tramways inspector of the Auckland Transport Board, Charles William Walker, in helping to bring about the arrest of three men for stealing a wallet from a war pensioner in Hobson Street on March 24, was commended by the police and justices in the Police Court yesterday. Thomas Hayes, fisherman, aged 1)3, Leslie Kenneth Walker, labourer, aged 30, and James Alfred Bottles, labourer, aged 25, were charged with the theft of the wallet. They were represented by Mr. Aekins and pleaded not guilty. James Charles Leith, war pensioner, said ho was walking down Hobson Street shortly after 6 p.m. on March 24, when three men came lip to him. One asked for a cigarette, and as he put his hands into his pockets the man identified as Hayes took tho wallet out of his inside pocket. It contained a 10s note. Witness also identified Walker, but not Bottles. Tramways Inspector's Evidence Charles William Walker, tramways inspector, said the three accused came out of a hotel in Hobson Street together on tho morning of March 25, and walked toward a hotel on the opposite side of the street. Walker had a wallet in his hands, and Bottles asked him to give it to him. Walker refused, saying he would "dump it." "On hearing these words I kept the men under observation, and attracted the attention of a constable," witness continued. "Soon afterward a postman came to clear a pillarbox outside the hotel which the men had entered. The wallet was on top of the letters." Constable J. D. Cleeve said he took the wallet and was entering the hotel when he met Bottles, who, without being asked anything about the matter, said he knew nothing about the wallet. Hayes was found in the hotel, while Walker was located in a dark alleyway leading into Wellesley Street.

Contention by Counsel Detective R. H. Waterson produced statements made by the three accused, denying all knowledge of the wallet. A subsequent statement by Walker involved the other two accused. "This is one of the thinnest cases I have ever heard," said Mr. Aekins. "The Court is asked to convict three men on the uncorroborated evidence of a man who was so uncertain of his own condition that he could not remember whether he had 12 or 18 drinks on the day he lost his wallet. I submit thero is no evidence to connect Walker or Bottles with the theft, and, in fact, that it is most unsafe to convict at all on the evidence." Messrs. D. Donaldson and A. L. Gee, J.l'.'s, said they had no doubt as to tho guilt of the three men. Detective - Sergeant McHugh said Hayes had a long list, Walker had 11 previous convictions, and Bottles had two for drunkenness. Hayes and Walker were both sentenced to three months' imprisonment. Bottles was sentenced to one month, and ordered to take out a prohibition order. _ Mr. Aekins made application for the fixing of security for appeal against the Court's decision. *