THEFT OF SUITCASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26199, 9 July 1946, Page 9

THEFT OF SUITCASE

STUPID, DRUNKEN PRANK THREE FIREMEN IN COURT (PA.) ' AUCKLAND, July 8. Stating that he could not adjourn the matter, give probation, or make an order that their names should not be published, Mr J. Morling, S.M., in the Police Court to-day, sentenced three employees of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Brigade to terms of imprisonment on a charge of theft. The three were Norman Wright, aged 25' William Arthur Roach, aged 30, and Thomas Albert Allen, aged 36. They were jointly charged with the theft of a suitcase and contents of a total valup of £SO, the property of Dorothy Kidson. Mr K. C. Aekins appeared for the accused, who pleaded guilty. Senior Detective Trethewey said that at 6 p.m. on Friday last the complainant, a dietitian at Green Lane Hospital, placed four suitcases in her car. The three accused were at the hospital, where one inquired for a nurse. One suitcase was found to be missing, and it was later found in a car driven by one of the men. The three men appeared to have been drinking, but at the time of their arrest they were all quite sober. Mr Aekins said that all three men had served overseas during the war. They had been off duty on Friday and unfortunately they had had a little too much to drink. They went out to see a friend, and they foolishly took the suitcase. They did not even remember which one of them took it. The suitcase was not touched, but it was quite intact. The whole thing was a stupid drunken prank, and they had no intention of stealing the suitcase. The three men were each sentenced to one month and a day. Security for Later, Mr Aekins, on behalf of his clients, gave notice of their intention to appeal, and to enable this to be done, the magistrate increased the sentence to one month and a day. Security for appeal was fixed, and the men were released on bail on their own recognisance.