TRIP IN CAR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20802, 10 August 1937, Page 4

TRIP IN CAR

TIMARU LABOURER FINED £l6 Walter Wright (27), a labourer, was fined £lO by Mr H. Morgan, S.M., in the Timaru Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of converting to his own use on July 31 a motor car valued at £25, the property of Joseph Eustace Prisk. Wright, who pleaded guilty, was represented by Mr L. M. Inglis. The owner of the car drove into Timaru and parked the vehicle outside the Post Office, said Senior-Sergeant D. J. Hewitt. He returned in the evening, found the car missing, and reported the matter to the police. The following morning as Constable Dunlop was going off duty he noticed a car which answered to the description of the stolen vehicle, in Otipua Road Three men jumped out of the car. Two ran away and the third was evidently too slow or did not bother, and was taken to the police station. Accused said he knew the car had been borrowed, but declined to give the names of his associates. Wright explained that he was only a passenger in the car. The police had not yet been able sufficiently to identify the other men to justify a charge against them. The party had evidently been out at Temuka drinking. Wright’s wife came to the police station in the morning looking for him, and it was obvious that the husband should have been at home with her instead of running about the country. Wright had one previous conviction for theft. Mr Inglis explained that Wright, who declined to reveal the identity of his associates, maintained that he did not know that the car was stolen. On the afternoon of the day in question accused was in one of the hotels with a friend listening to a broadcast of a football match. They met a man Wright did not know nd the man asked them if they would like to go out to Temuka that night. They met at the Post Office .but Wright was not aware that the car did not belong to the man. The vehicle was stopped in Otipua Road after returning to town, and the man in front exclaimed: “Scram you jokers,” and ran. Wright did not know what was a/rong. He was there in a car which did not belong to him, and in the circumstances he had no option but to plead guilty. He was a married man with three children, said Mr Inglis, who asked that accused be convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon. Wright was evidently an accomplice, said the Magistrate. He had been locked up for two or three days and that would be taken into consideration A fine of £lO with costs £1 was imposed, in default one month's imprisonment.

Mr Inglis asked that Wright be given time to pay as he was on sustenance.

“Perhaps when he has been so loyal to his friends they will assist him,” suggested the Senior-Sergeant.

The Magistrate allowed Wright a month to pay.