THREE LABOURERS IN COURT

Southland Times, Issue 23674, 24 November 1938, Page 12

THREE LABOURERS IN COURT

SERIES OF ESCAPADES (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 23. A series of escapades in which articles and money to a total value of more than £26 were stolen and in which three cars were seriously damaged resulted in the appearance of three young men before Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today. Harvey Ashworth, aged 22, a labourer, William Cook, aged 19, a labourer, and Keith Albert Andrews, aged 19, a labourer, pleaded guilty to a joint charge of ponverting a car valued _at £45 and six joint charges of theft involving £lB 14/5 were preferred against Ashworth and Cook. Two joint charges of car conversion were admitted by Ashworth and Cook, and Ashworth admitted the theft of a watch valued at £3 and Cook admitted two thefts of articles of a total value of £4 10/-. It was stated that on September 27 Ashworth, who was released from a Borstal institution on licence, renewed acquaintance with Cook and the thefts were committed from the crew’s quarters of the Waihine, the Poolta and the Waipiata and from a hotel. Anddrews was concerned only in the case of conversion of a car abandoned by them in a damaged condition at Trentham after a collision with a post while being driven by Cook. The car taken by the other two was put over a bank at Khandallah. The third car was driven to Levin and the following day they were involved in a collision. Ashworth was given 12 months’ imprisonment with hard labour on one charge and an additional six months on the other. Cook was sentenced to a year’s reformative detention on one charge and Andrews was ordered to come up for sentence if called within 12 months.