TWO CALVES DISAPPEAR

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 13

TWO CALVES DISAPPEAR

THEFT ALLEGATION MADE

CARRIER FOUND NOT GUILTY.

CONFLICTING EVIDENCE IN CASE,

Evidence that conflicted strongly and a request by Senior-sergeant E. T. C. Turner that one of the police witnesses should be treated as hostile were the features of the hearing of a charge of theft, eventually dismissed, again Frank Edwin George Spence, New Plymouth, a carrier, in the Police Court at New mouth yesterday. Spence was charged with stealing two calves, the property of Patrick Norman Raill, Koru, and pleaded not guilty, Mr. N. Little defending him. . Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., in dismissing the case, said that Spence would have the benefit of the doubt in the grave charge against him. He did not know how the calves disappeared but he had a grave doubt whether Spence took them. The case, as outlined by the seniorsergeant, was that two calves were placed in his roadside pen at Koru ny Raill, who alleged that on the morning of August 20 Spena»% collecting truck pulled up near it. Raill alleged that he saw Spence’s assistant, Bullot, taking a calf from the pen, which was subsequently found empty. • Raill gave evidence on those lines and * was followed by Howard Malcolm Bullot, New Plymouth, who was with Spence, on the day in question, Bullot, exammed by the senior-sergeant, would not confirm a statement made to Constable Mills on September 14 in which he detailed the movements of Spence and himselfIt was not much use relying bn anything he said in his statement, Bullot explained, as he had a bad memory. He had made a mess of his statement from beginning to end as he was frightened. Mr. Woodward: You have, nothing, to be frightened of. Are you still working for Spenee?—No. Who are you working for?—Nobody. Bullot said he was with Spence only temporarily and he remembered going with him on August 20. He could not remember at which places the truck stopped. He later said he remembered stopping at Raill’s, where they had picked up calves before, but there were no calves there that day. The senior-sergeant: Then why did you say in your statement on September 14 that there were two calves there?— It’s no use going by that statement; it’s all wrong. Bullot explained he could not remember whether or not he said when making his statement that he wanted to speak the truth but that he did not want to get Spence into trouble. “I ask that this witness be treated as hostile,” said the senior-sergeant, ceasing his examination. To Mr. Little Bullot said he was in a poor state of health and was easily confused. ■ . To the magistrate, Bullot said he had been under medical attention for a weak heart.

Mr. Woodward: But that does not mean a weak memory. Cyril D. Tate, clerk at the Waitara freezing works, said there were no calves put through in either Spence’s or Raill s name for August 20.

NO COMPLAINTS AGAINST SPENCE.

To Mr. Little, Tate said there had been no complaints against Spence. Mistakes in charging had been made occasionally. Constable A. J. Mills said Spence, when interviewed, said he could not remember collecting calves at Raill’s on August 20. 'He said he never collected calves without leaving a docket, but he would be prepared to pay Raill to save any further trouble. At the conclusion of the police case Mr. Woodward 'refused an application by Mr. Little for the dismissal of the charge, which counsel characterised as fantastic.

Percy Hatcher, carrier for the Inglewood Bacon Company, said he had told Raill he had been at Stratford on August 20 when Raill asked if he had collected two of his calves. Raill had then said it must have been Spence. William Austin, stock buyer for the Waitara freezing works, said Raill told him Spence’s truck had stopped and Bullot had got out and collected two calves. He told Raill that Spence was an honourable man and that the firm would not have kept him if he were not. Raill said he knew Spence and his brother, however, to be “capable of taking anything.” Austin’s suggestion that it might have been possible for the 4-day-old calves to have jumped the fence was queried by the senior-sergeant, Spence was still employed by the firm, said witness. Spence, giving evidence, said he carried so many calves that he relied on his collection books for particulars. The book for August 20 showed no mention of calves from Raill’s. When Raill asked him about them he made inquiries at the works and found there were no dockets for him that day. He told Raill there must be a mistake about the dates and Raill replied that a truck had taken the calves but he did not know whose it was.

To the senior-sergeant Spence said he had no knowledge of why Bullet’s statement and evidence differed so much. He denied taking the calves.

To the magistrate, Spence explained that on August 20 the "pen was up” at RaiH's but there were no calves in the enclosure.

Raill, recalled by the magistrate, said he saw Bullot carrying a calf and saw the tail of the truck, but did not see Spence. “This is rather an extraordinary case,” commented Mr. Woodward. The deciding point must be whether the calves were put on the truck or not. If they were put on the truck there is no room for mistake and Spence must have stolen them, perhaps having an arrangement with some other farmer.” RaiH's evidence impressed him as being straightforward, continued Mr. Woodward, analysing the evidence. He had not seen Spence, however, only Bullot with a calf subsequently finding the pen open and the flag down. It seemed a very strong case against Spence, but he was also impressed with Spence’s honesty. Instead of denying taking the calves when Raill asked him, as a dishonest man would have done, he said he -would look it up, and did so. His was not the conduct of a dishonest man, nor was his statement to the police. “I cannot help but be impressed by Spence's evidence that he stopped and found no calves, and I do not think it is an attempt to explain away a theft, but what really happened,” concluded Mr. Woodward. “I do not know how the calves disappeared, but I have a grave doubt whether Spence took them. The police had no alternative but to prosecute with the evidence in their hands, but Spence shall have the benefit of the doubt on the very grave charge against him.”

Inhabitants of San Vicente, near Buenos Ayres, lay awake for several nights shuddering in their beds as the cries of an unknown "monster” echoed through the town. For a week efforts were made to trace the monster. Hundreds of people dragged a near-by lake. The mystery was solved when a fisherman captured an enormous frog just as it was bellowing. _