CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23350, 16 November 1937, Page 4

CITY POLICE COURT

Monday, November 15 " (Before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M.) DRUNKENNESS A first offender for drunkenness ■was fined 20s, in default 24 hours' Imprisonment.—On a similar charge Arthur George Webber was convicted and discharged, and was fined £ 2 for casting offensive matter in a public place. AFFILIATION Reserved decision was given in the case in which Alexander Wilson was proceeded ' against on a complaint for an affiliation order. After reviewing the evidence, the magistrate adjudged the defendant the father of the child, and ordered him to pay maintenance at the rate of 10s a week, £8 6s 6d expenses of birth, and £3 3s solicitor’s fee. ADMITTED TO PROBATION Zair Williams appeared for sentence on a charge of the theft of £36 9s 8d from William Wright and Co.—He was admitted to probation for two years, on condition that he made restitution to the extent of £ 25, and that he took out a prohibition order during the currency of his probation. INTOXICATED MOTORIST William James McDonald (Mr White) pleaded guilty to a charge of being intoxicated in charge of a motor car.—Senior Sergeant Packer said that at 7.30 p.rn. on Saturday Constable Bird saw a motor car parked in Maclaggan street outside the Salvation Army men’s shelter. He saw the accused walk round the car, get in, turn the car in the road and attempt to drive up the hill, but the car stalled' in the middle of the road, and the accused was unable to restart it. When the constable reached the car the accused got out, and as he was in an intoxicated condition the constable arrested him. Dr Harty subsequently examined the accused and certified that he was not in a fit condition to drive a car.—Mr White said that this was a case of sheer bad luck, for the accused had been merely helping a friend, who had told him that he had left the car in a broken-down condition a few feet from the kerb in Maclaggan street. He asked the accused to shift it into a safer position on the street for him, as he had to go to work. The accused had a few drinks during the afternoon, and then went to shift the car as requested. He intended to back the vehicle into a position nearer the kerb, but had considerable difficulty in starting it, and had gone only a few yards when the car stopped. —ln response to a question by the magistrate, Senior Sergeant, Packer said that the car travelled only about 20 yards up the hill.—The magistrate, saying that he would take into consideration the circumstance that it was not the accused’s own car, imposed a fine of £3 19s, with medical expenses (£1 Is), and suspended the defendant’s licence for six months. CASTING OFFENSIVE MATTER John Clutterbuck (Mr J. G. Warrington) pleaded not guilty to a charge of wilfully committing a grossly indecent act in the Woodhaugh Gardens on November 6. After hearing evidence, the magistrate said there was a strong doubt in his mind whether the accused’s act was deliberate or not. On condition that the accused took out a prohibition order, the charge would be amended to one of casting offensive matter in a public place, on which he would be fined £1 16s, with witness’s expenses (8s).