ISOLATED OFFENCE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21216, 10 December 1938, Page 4

ISOLATED OFFENCE

JUDGE GRANTS PROBATION Bv lelegiapti Wrt*s»- Association CHRISTCHURCH, December 9. Hero of a sensational incident recently. when he intervened to stou an Alsatian dog from attacking a baby, George Thomas Watts appeared in the Supreme Court before Mi Justice Northcroft to-day, and was sentenced ‘ on a charge of house-breaking. He ' was admitted to probation for two years. Mr P. H. T. Alpers, for Watts, said . that he had had a hard upbringing. ! He was sent to a truant school when ! very young, and then sent to farms in j Taranaki, where he was outfitted with j clothes and allowed 2/6 a week above his keep. The incident with the Alsatian dog 1 took place in June last, and as_a re- ' suit of it Watts received a fractured > wrist, and had to give up his employ- ' mi-nt. He was placed on sustenance, and he and his wife and child had to live on 39/- a week. Later he entered the employment of the Brighton Borough Council. 'The offence occurred when Watts was pressed for payment on furniture. He had kept up these payments until he was injured, and when he got the ' position with the Brighton Borough i Council the furniture company de- I manded £1 a week. A judgment summons was issued. Watts saw his home ! being wrecked, and became flurried * committing the offence. “I am going to give you the credit you deserve for trying to go straight,” said the Judge, “and I shall treat this as an isolated offence, and admit you to probation. This is an unusual course, but you have earned it by your conduct over the last few years.”