CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21649, 20 May 1932, Page 5

CITY POLICE COURT

; Thursday, Mat 19. { (Before Mr. J. R. Bartholomew. S.M.I !> DRUNKENNESS,;;:, Robert Joseph Moore/Va'-btatutory first offender ...for- drunkenness, j who appeared bn remqjjd,"was .ionvi.ctedtand -discharged fen condition that he paid £2 6s medical expenses. | THEFT OF OVERCOAT. > Joseph Bell was charged with haying stolen, at Otokia, on May 9, an overcoat valued at £2, the property of William Davidson. Chief Detective Young stated that the accused, when under the influence of liquor, called at the complainant’s house. The complainant’s wife saw him coming, and did not answer the knock, and Bell then removed the overcoat from the back of the house. He had made every effort to assist the police to recover the coat, but as he had Only a hazy recollection of what had happened, some difficulty was being experienced in locating the : article. Drink was the accused’s trouble, and his list was a, long one, this being his seventy-fourth conviction. —The magistrate said that the accused was of the vagrant type from whom settlers in the country must be protected. He would be sentenced to one month’s imprisonment.

1 THEFT FROM SHOP. ,s\ Annie M'Dougall Smith pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing three cakes of soap, beads, a hair net, hair clips, a pot Scrub, and four batteries, of a total value bf 10s 6d, from J. R. M'Kenzie’s shop. —Chief Detective Young said that one of the assistants in the shop was suspicious of the accused’s actions and watched her on Wednesday afternoon, with the result that she was caught in the act of stealing the goods. She was married, with two grown-up children.- She had several convictions for theft 'arid false pretences, tmd had failed- to comply 'with the terms Of her probation in connection with those offences.—The magistrate said that the woman must be taught a lesson, and sen-, tnced her to seven days’ imprisonment.