CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22366, 13 September 1934, Page 15

CITY POLICE COURT

Wednesday, September 12. (Before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.) ACCUSED REMANDED. A young'-man whose name was sup- | pressed until the facts of the case arc I gone into was charged with the theft of an. electric iron valued at £2. He was I represented by Mr L. R. Simpson. —Chief j Detective Young, in asking for'a remand j for a week, said that the accused had been employed bv an electrical firm in Dunedin as an apprentice. When his home was visited by the police, about £3O worth of electrical material was found, and further inquiries were necessary to clear the matter up.—The accused was remanded till September 19, bail being allowed in his own recognisance of £25 and one surety of £25. THEFT OF CLOTHING. Eric William Freeman pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a coat and vest, valued at £4 ss, the property of Dr Eudcy.—Chief .• Detective Young said that until recently the accused had been employed by Blytb and Roberts, dry cleaners, in their Broadway shop. In July a suit Of clothes was received from Dr Eudey for cleaning, and later < the coat and vest were missed. Suspicion turned on the accused, and he admitted having taken the garments. It was an inexplicable offence, as he made no attempt to disguise the coat and vest, even leaving the numbers attached to them. He told his parents that the garments had been given to him by Mr Blyth, one of the partners of the firm. He had been before the court in 1931 on a charge of theft, the case being adjourned 'for 12 months, and in 1032 had been before the Supreme Court on a charge of stealing a. motor cycle, being still on probation for that offence.— Stating that he would prefer more information about the accused, the magistrate remanded him in custody for one week. ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. Robert’ Kirkness, alias Jackson, was charged with breaking and entering the house of Michael Costello, at Otokia, and stealing jewellery, a pair of shoes, a bicycle pump, and other articles, to the value of £l3 18s 9d.—Elizabeth Costello said her husband was a farmer at Otokia, the farm adjoining the main road to Dunedin, On July 25, in company with her husband and daughter, she came into Dunedin, leaving her son, William Lindsay Costello, working on the farm. She left at about 11.30 a.m. and returned at 5.30 p.m. The doors of the house were left open, and when she returned home she found that a quantity of jewellery had been stolen from her bedroom, and other articles were also missing. She described the articles of jewellery which had been stolen and identified a pair of shoes, a piece of greenstone and a bicycle pump, which had been among the articles stolen.— William Lindsay Costello said that on July 25, about an hour after hip parents had left the farm, he went out of the house to start work on the farm, shutting the door as he left. The back door was not locked. At about 3-45 p.m. ho returned to the house and found the back door still closed, but a pair of trousers belonging to him had been stolen, while a quantity of jewellery, a pair of shoes and a bicycle pump were also missing. The shoes had been left in the washhouse, the door of which was shut, while the bicycle pump had been left lying on the lawn. He identified the pair of shoes and the bicycle pump produced as being his property.—Michael David Costello also identified the articles produced.—Mary Rebecca White, a housemaid at the White House Hotel, Henley, said she knew the accused, who had stayed at the hotel on the nights of July 23 and 24, and left the hotel about 1.80 p.m. on July 25, riding a bicycle in the direction of Dunedin, and consequently towards Costello’s farm. — Detective Taylor said he interviewed the accused ou August 27 and questioned him about having broken and entered Costello’s house at Otokia. He denied any knowledge of the offence, but when his personal effects were examined a small piece of greenstone was produced. The accused said he had it from a person in the North Island. The following day Mrs Costello came to the detective office and as a result of her statement witness interviewed the accused the following day and told him that the piece of greenstone had been identified as one of the articles stolen from Costello’s house. The accused still denied that he had committed the offence, and said that be had received the greenstone from one of two men at the Henley Hotel. The shoes and bicycle pump were found In his effects, and the accused said he had got the shoes in the Timaru district, and that the bicycle pump was on the bicycle when he bought it. —The accused pleaded uot guijty and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Two further charges, that at Ashburton he stole a plumber’s blowlamp and a pipe spanner, valued at 255, the property of Leonard Robert M’Knclly, and that at Timaru he stole a spirit lamp, valued at 30s, the property of Louis Edyvean, were preferred against the accused, who, on the application of Chief Detective Young, was remanded to appear in Timaru on September 18.