A FULL CONFESSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21998, 6 July 1933, Page 13

A FULL CONFESSION

BALCLUTHA YOUTH’S CRIMES TEN CHARGES ADMITTED IMPRISONMENT ON MINOR COUNTS The story of a young man’s remarkable career of crime, including robbery at the point of a revolver, was related in the Balclutha Court yesterday morning when William John Jardine, aged 20 years, pleaded guilty to 10 charges. Mr D. Jack, J.P., and Mr W. Kean, J.P., were on the Bench, and Detective Sergeant Nuttall prosecuted. The charges against Jardine were as follows: — That on April 18, 1932, at Balclutha, by night, he broke and entered the counting house of the Balclutha railway station and stole Is 6d in money, ,the property of the New Zealand Railways Department. That on April 18, by night, he broke and entered the dwelling house of William Cauley Cunliffe and stole a Bulldog revolver, five cartridges, and a key valued at £l, the property of Cunliffe. That on April 18, by night, he broke and entered the dwelling house of Nelson Wilkinson and stole 2s 6d in money, and a bunch of keys, the property of Wilkinson. That on March 27, 1933, at Puerua, being armed with an automatic pistol, he attempted to rob Peter Shaw Grant. That on October 1, 1932, at Balclutha, by night, he broke and entered the jeweller’s shop of Arthur Leonard Shepard and stole three watches and one string of beads of a total value of £4 17s 6d, the property of Shepard. That on December 24, 1932, at Balclutha, being armed with an automatic pistol, he robbed Grace Cameron’of £l9 in money. That on or about May 16, at Balclutha, he broke and entered the shop of the Import Company and stole tobacco, cigarettes, and a Luger automatic pistol, of a total value of £l6 lls-, the property of the Import Company. That on May 27, at Balclutha, he converted to his own use a Dodge motor car, the property of Alexander Stewart M'Kay. That on May 27, at Henley, he converted to his own use an Auburn motorcar, the property of Frank Keith. That on March 27, at Balclutha, he converted to his own use a Vauxhall motor car, the property of James Hawkins Crutchley. CONVERSION OP CARS. The accused pleaded guilty to the charges of converting the care to his own use. He was convicted, and sentence was deferred until the evidence on the other charges had been heard. THE INDICTABLE CHARGES. Evidence was then called on the indictable charges. Thomas M’Kenzie Thompson, a merchant, carrying on business as the Import Company, said that at 8.20 on May 16 it was discovered that his premises had been broken into. Tobacco and other goods, valued at £2B, were missing. A trapdoor in the back door had been forced. The yard was surrounded by a fence about seven feet high. About this time an automatic pistol had been stolen from the premises. Arthur Leonard Shepard, a jeweller, of Balclutha, said that when closing his shop on September 30 he removed most of the contents from the window. Early next morning he heard that his window had been broken, and, on making an examination, he found that three watches and a string of beads had been stolen. The value of the window was in the vicinity of £l6. Grace Stenhouse (nee Cameron), of Tauranga, said that on last Christmas Eve she was employed as cashier by Guest and Sons, of Balclutha. At about 10.15 a masked man tame into the office from the back entrance. In his left hand was a revolver which was pointing towards her. As he took a handful of notes from the cash register she snatched a cap from his head, and it was afterwards handed to the police, She did not know how he left the shop. Peter Shaw Grant, storekeeper and postmaster at Puerua, said that at 3 o’clock on the morning of March 27 he was awakaned by a person knocking at the door. On opening it he saw a man, who asked for some petrol and then added: “Hand over the keys of your safe. I want your cash.” Witness expressed astonishment, and the man said, “ Hand .over the keys of the safe and be - quick about it or I will blow your brains out.” He flashed a torch on witness and at the same time produced a revolver. Witness tried to knock the revolver out of his hands and said “ I’ll soon settle your hash, my lad.” He could not see the face of the man, who seemed to have a muffler round his face. Witness went inside to try to get something with which to defend himself, but all he could find was a fire shovel. When he returned the man was out on the main road going towards Balclutha. He did not know who the man was. He then heard a car start and go towards Balclutha. Later, when he examined his own car, he found the wires to the plugs disconnected. Jardine had worked for him at one time, and knew where the car was kept. William Cauley Cunliffe, station master at Balclutha, said that on going to bed on the night of April 17 he hung his trousers at the head of the bed. In the pockets were a loaded revolver and a key. Next morning he found that his housthad been entered by the back door. The key and the revolver, were gone, and the electric light had been cut off at the meter. On going to the railway station he found that the door of his office had been forced. An attempt bad been made to force three windows. Nelson Wilkinson, a railway clerk, said that he carried a key of a small sale in the office. Before he left the station on April 17 he placed the day’s takings in the safe. The next morning he found that his electric light had been cut off during the night, and his keys and some money had disappeared from his trousers in his bedroom. At about 5 o’clock in the afternoon his keys were brought back to the station. Melville Tie, a railway clerk, said that on going on duty at 7.30 on the morning of April 18 be found the small safe closed but unlocked. He noticed that an attempt had been made to force a door and some windows. There was no money missing from the safe, but Is 6d bad been taken from a desk. Ormond Grigor Law, a motor mechanic, said that at 7.55 on the morning of April 18 he found some keys on the footpath in a side street near the railway station. He later handed them to the railway authorities. Constable Boyle said that shortly after 3 o’clock on March 27 he received a telephone message from Grant. He went out into the street and saw a car coming from the direction of the railway. He took its number, but, owing to fog, be could not see the driver. He later found that the car belonged to Mr Crutchley. of Rae’s' Junction. The car was later found in the vicinity of the railway station. On June 26 he was present when the accused was charged with breaking and entering the railway station. At about 8 o’clock that night the accused told him where the two stolen revolvers referred to in the previous evidence eou'd be found, stating that they were under a house at the corner of Paisley and Lanark streets. The guns and a mask

■were found as the accused had indicated. The accused afterwards made a written statement. THE ACCUSED’S STATEMENT. Detective Sergeant Nuttall produced the following statement made by the accused “ I wish to make a statement concerning the crimes that have been committed by me at Balclutha. About a year ago, probably about May, 1932, I broke into the Import Company’s shop at Balclutha and stole about 20 tins of tobacco, a few hundred cigarettes, and other small articles that 1 now forget. . | “On Christmas Eve, 1932, I went into Guests’ Store from the back entrance at about 9.30 p.m. I had an automatic revolver with me at the time. This revolver I stole from the Import Company on the night I broke in there. When I went into Guests’ shop 1 had my face covered with a mask. I pointed the revolver at Miss Cameron, the clerk at the cash register. The cash register was open, and I grabbed a handful of notes and cleared out. I counted the money after I left the premises, and I had £l9 in notes and two cheques. I burnt the cheques and I have spent the £l9. “ In March last I went to Roscbank at about 1 a.m. and took Mr Crutchlcy’s car out of the garage. That morning I knocked at the door of Mr Grant, storekeeper, of Puerua, at about 3 o’clock. When the door was answered by Mr Grant I pointed a revolver at him and told him that I wanted the keys of his safe. He then knocked the gun up and ran inside. When he did this 1 went back to the car, which 1 had left about 100 yards down the road. Before going to Grant’s house I disconnected the wires on his motor car so that he could not follow me. The automatic that I used on this occasion was the one that I had got from the Import Company’s shop. “ Some time before doing Guests’ job I took a ear from Nicholson’s garage and drove it to Kakapuaka with the intention of sticking up the post office there. I could not wake anybody up and came back to Balclutha. I went to Shepard’s jewellery shop and broke a front window with the butt end of the automatic revolver. From there I took three watches and some beads. 1 threw two watches and the beads away. The other watch was no good, and is now in a broken condition and may be lying about my home. “ Early one morning in April last I went to the Balclutha railway station and tried to force the windows with a jemmy. I also tried to pull one window down with my hands. When I failed to get the window open I went to Wilkinson’s house in Douglas street for the purpose of getting keys to open the railway station. I knew that Wilkinson was a booking clerk there. I got into the house by crawling through a window at the back and went into the bedroom at the front, Wilkinson’s trousers were lying across the end of the bed, and from them I took a small amount in silver. Ido not remember how much. I also took hi s keys. I then went back to the railway station, but the keys would not open the door, I then went down to Mr Cunliffe’s house. He is the etationmaster. I lifted the scullery window and turned the key in the back door and let myself in. I looked into two rooms before I found the stationmaster’s bedroom. From a pair of trousers at the head of the bed I took a revolver and a big key. I went out by the way I came in. I then went back to the railway station. The key I got from Cunliffe’s house would not open the doors so I then forced the door leading into the stationmaster’s room, and from there I went into the main office. I unlocked a small safe with a key that I got-from Wilkinson’s but I could not get the safe open. I found Is 6d near the window, I took this. When I left the station I threw the keys down on the footpath in a street nearby. “Last month (May) I took Mr MTvay’s car from his garage in Charlotte street and drove it to Henley. It got stuck in the mud and I left that ear there. I stole Mr Keith’s car at Henley and drove it back to Balclutha, leaving it in Charlotte street. “ The offences I have referred to in this statement were all committed by me lone-handed and I am certain that 1 ■ have never had any assistance from anybody. I have told Constable Boyle where to find the two revolvers. They were planted by me under a house at the corner of Lanark and Paisley streets. The small revolver is still fully loaded In making this statement I do so for the purpose of getting all this trouble off my mind so that I can make a fresh start in life. I realise that what I have been doing for some time past has been wrong, and I now wish to go straight.” The accused pleaded guilty to all of the charges and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. On each of the charges of converting cars to his own use the accused was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment in the Dunedin gaol, the sentences to be i concurrent.