MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Southland Times, Issue 23819, 17 May 1939, Page 3

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

TUESDAY (Before Messrs F. E. R. Booth and Hugh Ritchie, J.P.s) Pleading guilty to breaking and entering the shop of Rice Brothers in the Majestic Theatre Buildings and committing theft and to breaking and entering the counting house of the Majestic Theatre with intent to commit crime, Lionel Roland Robert Horne, aged 25, of no fixed abode, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

Detectiv6-Sergeant R. Thompson, who prosecuted, said the accused was to appear in the Supreme Court on charges of burglary in Dunedin and Timaru. There were 13 charges against him in all.

Frederick Gordon Ross, caretaker, Majestic Theatre, gave evidence of locking up the theatre on the night in question. Everything was in order, and when he went to the theatre the following morning he found a hammer and a pocket knife lying on the floor. He also saw that Rice’s door leading into the theatre was broken open, the lock being smashed in. Later, he made an inspection and found that entry had been made to the theatre through the louvres of a lavatory at the back of the theatre.

Rita Stewart, an employee of Rice Brothers, said that she locked up the shop at 9.30 p.m. on April 12 and everything was all right She left £l4/6/9 in the till. The following morning she returned to the shop and found the till open and the money missing. There was a pair of gloves by the cash register and there was also £2/6/- missing from the sale of tramway tickets. The draws in Mr Rice’s office had been broken open as well as the door leading into the theatre. Eric Gladstone Ward, acting detective, of Christchurch, said that on April 22 he arrested the accused in Christchurch. The accused was questioned about breaking and entering the Majestic Theatre and the confectionery shop and made a statement admitting the offences. In the statement the accused described how he had gained entry to the theatre through the lavatory and had then broken into the shop through the door opening on to the theatre vestibule.

The accused said he had nothing to say and pleaded guilty to both charges. He was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.