THEFTS ADMITTED

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6567, 17 September 1948, Page 4

THEFTS ADMITTED

BREAKING AND ENTERING CHARGES

DIMINUTIVE MAORI’S OFFENCES

Piri Hapi, alias William Piri Hapi, of no fixed abode, appeared before Messrs J. T. Johnson and W. Stewart, Justices of the Peace, on Wednesday on charges of breaking and entering a. dwelling at Ngahinepouri by day and stealing therefrom a quantity of clothing, the property of ’ the owner and his wife, to a total value of £2B 6s lid.

A further charge was that Hapi did break and enter a dwelling at Te Awamutu by day and steal therefrom goods and chattels valued at £l4 19s Id, the breaking and entering into another house at Te. Awamutu by day and stealing therefrom goods and chattels to a total value of £39 13s 6d. Hapi, a diminutive Maori, 22 years of age, was attired in a pair of grey flannel trousers, a blue lumber jacket and a maroon coloured pullover. The press table assumed somewhat the appearance of a counter of a secondhand dealer, for on it reposed the many goods and chattels stolen from the three houses entered. , Sergeant A. Bissett appeared for the police. The owner of the property concerned in the first charge gave evidence as to being a farmer at Ngahinepouri. He was absent from his home on the date of the charge, and on returning he found that two shirts were missing and "a few days later he ascertained that his home had been entered. Later he was shown articles of clothing, etc., by Constable Costello and he identified them as the property his wife and himself. The house was locked when he left it. He did not know how admittance to the house was gained. Constable E. D. Costello gave evidence as to arresting the accused at Ohaupo in connection with another matter and Hapi admitted breaking and entering into the home of the previous witness. Later, Hapi took witness to a hedge in Pakura Street where a case containing the goods was hidden. Other goods were recovered from underneath a blackberry bush in a paddock off the Pirongia Road and a hedge off the Ohaupo Road. In a statement, Hapi admitted the offences. Evidence was then given by two residents of Frontier Road to the effect that their homes had been entered and goods and chattels stolen therefrom. In one, the owner and family were away for several hours, leaving the house locked up. In the other case the owner was away at the milking shed in the early hours of the morning, and he too locked his house before the milkers proceeded to the shed.

Constable Costello gave evidence as to dealing with the complaints made, the subsequent arrest of Hapi, and statements obtained from the latter, who admitted the offences. In each case Hapi said that he had done so in order to get food and dry clothing. Hapi had nothing to say and he entered a plea of guilty and was committed to the Auckland Supreme Court for sentence.