FOUND IN SCHOOL SHED

Southland Times, Issue 25550, 19 December 1944, Page 6

FOUND IN SCHOOL SHED

SINGLE MAN CHARGED Found without lawful excuse in a shed in the Dryburgh school, a single man, whose name was suppressed from publication, pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within the next six months. Senior Sergeant W. J. Irwin told the Court that the accused had been found at 20 minutes to one o’clock on Sunday morning by Constable Jenner. When questioned by the constable, he said he was looking for his bicycle. He had been to the pictures, he said, but, when questioned about the picture programme, his answer was that he had slept through it. There was no sign of a bicycle in the shed or on the property. It was hidden in the trees about three chains away. “This man has been foxing couples,” added the senior sergeant. “About two years ago he was found lying behind a seat in the gardens—the seat was occupied by a couple and the man caught him and gave him a thrashing. We have had numerous complaints recently about prowlers and peeping Toms, but I don’t know whether this man has had .anything to do with that.” The accused said he had been in the habit of leaving his bicycle in the shed at the school, but when he arrived there on Saturday night he heard voices and left the machine in the trees. He asked for suppression of his name, because its publication would reflect upon his relations—brothers who held prominent public positions. “You had no right to be there and your story to the police was not true,” said the Magistrate. He decided to give the accused the benefit of the suspicious circumstances and suppress his name. THEFT OF BICYCLE George Miller, a married man, pleaded guilty to theft of a bicycle valued at £5/10/-. He was admitted to probation for one year, and ordered to make restitution of the machine to its owner and of £4/10/-, the purchase price paid to the accused by another man.