THEFT FROM FOOTBALLERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 July 1922, Page 6

THEFT FROM FOOTBALLERS.

A YOUTH BEFORE THE COURT. A youth named Walter Walker was charged at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, before Messrs. H. R. Cattley and R. W. D. Robertson, J.’sP., with a number of petty thefts from the clothes of footballers, left in the pavilion at the racecourse last Saturday. Walker had been arrested by Detective-Sergeant Cooney, and pleaded guilty. The detective-sergeant said that accused was seen at the pavilion when the teams, were going out to play, but on their return was gone, likewise the goods, and money from their pockets. When spoken to at his lodgings on Tuesday, the accused had at first denied the “hefts, but in his room were found boots and a purse which had been stolen, and which had been identified by the owner.--He was also wearing stolen socks and garters.. The money, which amounted to 14s 3d. was missing. The lad had heen in New Plymouth for about five or six months, having come from Wellington, and had been out of work for some considerable time. Accused came, of very respectable people ,and had no previous convictions. These petty thefts had been going on for some time, and it was time a stop was put to them. He suggested that if probation were granted, the accused he ordered to refund the amounts taken. The Bench at first ordered that accused come up for sentence if called on any time witihin six months, but on the plea of the probation officer, the Rev. O. Blundell, accused was admitted to probation for a like period. Walker is to report to the probation officer every fortnight. and was given a month in which to refund the money stolen.