PERIOD IN BORSTAL

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1938, Page 9

PERIOD IN BORSTAL

BQY'S, FALSE PRETENCES

SENTENCE AT HAWERA

He did not like sending a boy to prison but in this instance he had not responded to probation, said Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., in the Hawera Court yesterday in sentencing Keith Charles Climo, alias Lewis Todd, alias Roy Albert Fletcher, aged 19, to Borstal for a period not exceeding two years on a charge of false pretences. On a charge of breach of his probation terms he was convicted and discharged. Through Mr. H. D. Caplen Climo pleaded guilty and elected to be dealt with summarily. The charge was that Climo obtained £5 5s from W. R. Surgenor by representing that he would deliver three cords of flrewood. Climo had been engaged in wood splitting work in' the district until the end of last March, when he went to Auckland and- there committed a number of offences for which he was placed on probation, to be under his supervision as probation officer, said the senior-ser-geant. He took up wood splitting again and secured payment from Surgenor for wood that he did not deliver. "He has compiled a good list for a young fellow of tender years— theft, false pretences, fraud and idle and disorderly behaviour," the senior-sergeant added. "It might be said that he was influenced by the company he kept, but the flies show that he acted entirely on his own. He has been irregular in keeping to the terms of his probation and as probation officer I can say nothing in his favour. He is beyond me and is clearly a case for a borstal institution, where he can be taught a trade and to act in a lawabiding manner." He realised, from a perusal of the police flies, that he could not ask for probation again, said Mr. Caplen. Climo realised, too, that he was due for a term in borstal and it had been impressed upon him that in future he would have to learn to do what was right. Mr. Caplen appealed to the court for whatever leniency it could extend, remarking that most of the offences, and this one in particular, had been largely the result of the foolishness of people giving him payment without flrst sighting the goods he said he had to sell. Climo's mother was a widow and hard pressed and had been assisted by her son, while his employers all gave him excellent references for his ability as a v/orker, his present employer being willing to take him back. "I would ask for this lad that the sentence of the court be made as light as possible," Mr. Caplen concluded, "and that if he makes good in the institution he be allowed to come out on probation." The magistrate, before imposing sentence, said he had taken into account all that Mr. Caplen had said. Dangerous Driving Charge. C. A. Dornbush was fined £2, costs 10s, for driving on Waihi Road in a speed and manner which, under the circumstances, might have been dangerous to the public. The inspector, Mr. L. Hunt, said his attention was attr acted not by th? speed but by his driving on the wrong side of the road. The car was driven over intersections in the restricted area at 40 miles an hour. It was a wet, foggy night and there was much traffic about. Dombush explained that he was driving on the wrong side of the road because there were cars in front and he wished to see the road ahead. He had come from Eltham to answer the charge. He did not know the road was subject to a restriction. No Tall Light on Lorry. Alfred Sunday was fined 10s, costs 10s, for driving with no iail light on his lorry. It was a common thing for the tail lamps of shingle trucks to go out and they should not be taken out at night without being examined, said Mr. E. S. Summers, Transport Department , inspector,