ARMED ROBBERIES

Otago Witness, Issue 4042, 1 September 1931, Page 27

ARMED ROBBERIES

HEARING OF THE CHARGES BOTH ACCUSED PLEAD GUILTY COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE. WELLINGTON, August 26. Jack Morton, alias Jack Winstone, alias George Morton, aged 22, a seaman, and Florence Cooper, alias Florence Winstone, appeared before Mr E. Page, S.M., to-day, charged in connection with the reecnt highway robberies. Cooper was charged with robbing Clifford Thomas Organ at Wanganui of £1 10s and at the same time wounding him by shooting him in the leg. . They were jointly charged with being in possession of a revolver and that they robbed William Alexander Pirie at Day’s Bay on August 10 of £5 Is 6d, also with two offences of robbery under arms at Shelly Bay road, Miramar, on the night of August 7. Morton was also charged with failing to comply with the terms of his probation order, with unlawfully deserting from the steamer Cambridge (on which he was a duly articled seaman), and with theft of goods and money the pro perty of the New Zealand Shipping Company and members of the crew. The first witness for the prosecution, Maurice O. Guthrie, gave evidence similar to his previous account of the method by which M'Dermott’s car was held up on the night of August 7. He said that the revolver produced resembled the one fired, and also the clothing produced resembled that worn by the two bandits he had identified. Morton Charles Francis MacDermott, produce agent, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness and said that he had a cheque book taken from him. He could not recognise either of the accused. Mrs Zealandia Beatrice Vaney, a married woman living at Miramar, detailed how she and her husband, who were in the second car, were held up behind MacDermott’s car. Just as she was getting out of her car, which was driven by her husband, there was a shot fired and then the smaller of the bandits asked her to pass over her handbag, which she did. He then extracted £4 in notes and left a little silver. After her husband had been searched the bandits told them to drive on, which they did. William Alexander Pirie, manager ot the Sunshine Service Station, in Days Bay, detailed the circumstances by which he was relieved of £5 18s 6d by armed bandits on the evening of August 10. Two men outside forced an entry into his office, the taller of the two pushing a gun into his stomach and the smaller asking where the money was. Both were armed and both wore masks. The smaller man carried a bright revolver like the one produced in court, and the one which the taller one carried was black, with a long, thin barrel like the air pistol produced.

Detective A. B. Meiklejohn, stationed at New Plymouth, said that on August 1 15 he went to the Terminus Hotel, New f Plymouth, where the two accusec’ were ‘ booked as Mr and Mrs Winstone. The s female accused said she had recently ar- ’ rived from Sydney with her husband. 1 Witness went to the bedroom, where the ] male accused gave his name as Jack Win- ] stone, aged 20, and said that he was a < recent arrival from Sydney. With Ser- 1 gent M'Gregor witness made a search of the room, and in a suitcase under the bed he found 29 .32 cartridges. He also 1 found the revolver produced fullj loaded under a pillow of the bed. He later found the air pistol with two boxes of slugs in a wardrobe. At the police station he interviewed Morton as to his movements during the previous week. In his statement Morton said that he had arrived in New Zealand some time ago with his wife on the Aorangi, but had not been able to obtain any work. The two pistols were given them by a man in. the country soon after he arrived in the Dominion. He told the man that he wanted a revolver for pig hunting. He said he was concerned in two hold-ups ■with a man whose name he would not disclose. After the hold-ups the masks and clothes were thrown into the sea. Morton had a revolver and his mate, who lay on the road, had a compressed air pistol. He described the Miramar hold-up and also the firing of the shot, after which he said the motorist had better hop out as if there was any more trouble from him he would get one a bit higher. After the robbery they changed their clothes and in Miramar they were met by a constable who asked them whether they had seen any “ harem scarems ” about, and that they “ had better look out.” After the Days Bay affair he came into town by bus and slept out, and next night his wife and himself stayed at the

New Zealander Hotel. Later they went to Wanganui and to New Plymouth. Detective Meiklejohn said that after making the statement Morton told the female accused that he had admitted the two hold-ups in Wellington, but said that she “ was not in it.” Detective Meikle- . john then read the statement that he had taken from Florence Cooper, the female accused, on August 8. The accused said that she was staying at ‘ the Pier Hotel, Wellington, with her . husband, and they had no money. There- - fore she suggested that they should go - out and stick up some cars. They 1 bought some old clothes, and, in Miramar, changed into them in an old * bach. She lay down on the road, and when a car came along she presented

an air pistol while her husband held up the men with a revolver. “ The car driver had a torch and flashed it in my face,’ the statement continued, “ and said *lt is not a real one, to which 1 replied, ‘ You will soon know whether it is a real one.’ I stuck up the other car which came up and told the man and woman to get out. My husband left the other two men and came ever to me and then took the woman’s purse. A man from the first ear came and flashed a torch in his face, and then my husband fired a shot. The woman said, ‘ Be a sport as you have got the money.’ After we had changed our clothes and were walking in Miramar we met a man, whom we knew was a detective, who asked us if we had seen any men. He told us that we had better look out as there were two desperate characters about. We then came back to town and had supper at a cafe at about 9 o’clock.” Before the Days Bay hold up they climbed up the hill behind and were up there all the afternoon. They had planned to hold up a bus after dark, but when they saw the service station they decided right away to rob it instead of holding up the bus. They went on to the hill and changed and then went down to the service station. After putting masks over their faces they forced their way in. After telling the proprietor that there was a man outside, which was not true, and taking the contents of the till, they walked back towards Wellington and caught a bus at Petone. “ I wish to say that I am as much to blame as my husband in the two hold-ups,” the accused concluded.

Detective W. M'Lennan, stationed at Petone, described how, acting on advice from New Plymouth, he searched the gorse alongside the service station and found the suitcase produced containing various articles of old clothing. Detective Kane said he interviewed Morton with regard to having deserted his ship and the theft of certain articles from the ship. The accused then made a statement admitting the theft of a camera, a pair of binoculars. £2 18s, and articles of clothing. Witness had tested the compressed air pistol and found it capable of killing or disabling a man. After pleading guilty both the accused were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. The magistrate remanded Cooper to appear at Wanganui on August 31 on a charge of robbing Clifford Thomas Organ at Wanganui on August 13 of £1 10s, and wounding him by shooting him in the leg. The magistrate intimated that he would deal with the remainder of the charges, which were summary ones, after the major ones had been disposed of in the Supreme Court.