TWENTY CHARGES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21266, 21 February 1931, Page 3

TWENTY CHARGES.

THEFTS IN COUNTRY DISTRICTS. TWO MEN PLEAD GUILTY. No fewer than 20 charges of breaking and entering and theft were preferred against Joseph Perkins and Walter Pulsford Warren, who appeared before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., in the City Police Court yesterday morning. In every case the accused pleaded guilty. Most of the thefts were made in the country districts, and the total sum involved was the large one of £316 17s 2d. Mr B. S. Irwin appeared for Perkins and Mr 0. Stevens for Warren. The indictable charges were as follow: On January 18, at Milton, breaking and entering by night the shop of James Gunn Leckie and stealing tools valued at £23 17s 6d. _ • On January 23, at Waikouaiti, breaking and entering the shop of William Higgins by night and stealing groceries valued at £8 10s. On January 25, at Palmerston, breaking and entering the shop of Star Stores and stealing goods valued at £ll 17s 6d. On January 31, at Hampden, breaking and entering the shop of Kerr and Co. by night and stealing clothing and shoes valued at £9l Os 7d.

On January 12, at Dunedin, breaking and entering the shop of Samuel Brown by night and stealing 4s in money and goods valued at £1 12s. On January 17, at Waipiata, breaking and entering the shop of George Frederick Scott and stealing goods valued at £3. On January 5, at Mosgiel, breaking and entering the shop of Harold Irwin North and stealing motor car accessories valued at £5.

On January 10, at Lawrence, breaking and entering the shop of George Henry Martin and stealing a w r atch and chain valued at £l.

On November 29, at Milton, breaking and entering the shop of Alexander Pringle and stealing a bicycle valued at ,£ll 10s. On December 30, at Owaka, entering the shop of Mary Eliza Illingworth and stealing a cheque and money to the value of £lB 10s and goods valued at £35. . On February 8, at Waianakarua, breaking and entering the warehouse of the Phoenix Company, Ltd., and stealing flour and flour bags valued at £4 ss. On February 9, at Roxburgh, breaking and entering the shop of Charles Nicholson and stealing goods valued at £5. On February 9, at Roxburgh, breaking and entering the shop of John Cook and stealing footwear and clothing valued at £7O.

The accused pleaded guilty to the following charges, on which they elected to be dealt with summarily:— On December 1, at Waikouaiti, stealing one carcass of mutton, valued at £1 ss, the property of Abraham Jondale Park.

On December 11, at Waikouaiti, stealing a carcass of mutton, valued at £1 ss, the property of Abraham Jondale Park. On January 6, at Waikouaiti, stealing a cheese, valued at £2, the property of the Waikouaiti Dairy Factory. On January 16, at Balclutha, stealing motor car accessories, valued at £ll 17s Id, the property of John H. Stevenson. On January 20, at Waikouaiti, stealing a quantity of beef, valued at £3 15s, the property of Abraham Park. On February 9, at Bushey, stealing a drum of kerosene, valued at 10s. On February 12, at Milton, stealing a carcass of mutton, valued at 15s, the property of Abraham Park.

On February 12, at Waitahuna, stealing motot spirit and oil, valued at £5 7s 6d, the property of the Tuapeka County Council. Detective Kearton stated that, acting on information received from Detective Roycroft at Roxburgh, he had executed a search warrant in company with other members of the force at the home of the accused. There a considerable amount of the property mentioned in the charges had been found concealed in a number of places, including under the floor of the bathroom. After some of the goods had been found the accused had become quite frank and had assisted in the recovery of the goods. Since then they had given every assistance in clearing up the matter. On a dressing table in Perkins’s room a screened torch had been found, and in a fireplace among what appeared to be freshly-burned paper four skeleton keys in the process of being made had been discovered. An iron jemmy and a tyre lever had been brought from a car owned by the accused. They had admitted using the jemmy. Warren was a widower living with Perkins, who had a wife and family, at Minto street, Anderson’s Bay. Practically all of the goods had been recovered. Warren had stated that he had suggested the breaking and entering to Perkins and had practically “pushed him into it.” The approximate value of the goods not recovered was £4O. The accused were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence, and were sentenced to one month’s imprisonment on each of the charges on which they elected to be dealt with summarily.