WAIKERIA ESCAPEE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4559, 13 April 1942, Page 5

WAIKERIA ESCAPEE

EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS HUMPHREYS GRANTED BAIL A cablegram from Hobart reads:— When Richard Cecil Humphreys again appeared in the Police Court at Hobart on Friday under extradition proceedings, the Magistrate remanded him on bail. Detective - Inspector Fleming opposed bail. He said that further information had been obtained from New Zealand which indicated that when Humphreys was convicted for the theft of a lumber jacket valued at £2 he was on probation for previous offences. In October, 1940, said the DetectiveInspebtor, Humphreys joined the Army and deserted in the same month. He was arrested in January, 1941, and returned to the military authorities. He again deserted and when arrested on the charge of theft of the jacket he was ordered to be detained in the Waikeria Borstal institution for two years. He escaped while being taken to the institution and committed several thefts, including that of a yacht, which was different from the one he sailed to Tasmania. Humphreys was again arrested and sent to a Borstal institution, from which he escaped last September, since when the New Zealand authorities had not seen him. Counsel for Humphreys suggested that bail be allowed pending the arrival of documents from New Zealand. Humphreys, he said, had denied any desertion from the Army. The Magistrate said he was going to give Humphreys every opportunity to obtain his liberty if he were justly and legally entitled to it.