ALLEGED SHEEP-STEALING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6284, 15 September 1898, Page 1

ALLEGED SHEEP-STEALING.

A LITTLE RIVER CASE. - At the Magistrate's Court Little River yesterday, before Mr A.I. M'Gregor, J.P., and Mr A.. Maloney, _ J.P., David Little, butcher, was charged with having, within the. space of six months past, stolen 48 sheep, value .£29 2s, the property of S. Ifutt, and also one sheep and two lambs, value 16s, the property of James Cogp 4 . Mr Stringer conducted the prosecution, and Mr Joynt appeared for the accused. Henry Nutt, son of Samuel Nutt hotel-keeper, stated that the accused had carried on business as & 'butcher at Little River for about a year. Witness's father held some land on lease from the Maoris, and ran some sheep on it. Witness attended to that part of the business, and on June 21 put oil to this property 300 two-tooth ewes, which were branded across the baak with an W U " over a bar, the ear-mark being three notches out of the back of the right ear. On August 27 he counted the sheep rougthly, and found about fifty missing, and gave information to the police. A few days after the count he went to the accused's ;paddock, and there saw Detective Fitzgerald, Con- ! stable Ryan and the accused. There were in the yard twenty-nine sheep and seven lambs, which, <with the exception of one, were branded with a black smudge on the rump. Witness inspected the sheep and found one which belonged to his father ; the ear-mark had been cut out almost completely, but there was still sufficient left to be able to trace his father's mark. The ear had been recently cut, and bad not properly healed. The sheep's age and breed corresponded with those of the sheep that had been lost. Another sheep also corresponded generally with those belonging to witness's father, but there was no ear-mark discernible at all, both ears having been cut off recently. Witness claimed one of the sheep, and the accused said he had bought the sheep from Latter's, and that they had come from Piper's, whose ear-mark was the same as Mr Nutt's. Witness Baid it was very strange that he should cut the ears off one and only trim the mark on the other, and the accused replied that as the sheep were in lamb, . he did not want to kill them, and had marked them ?.n that way so as to know them. Accused said that Thompson had a sheep with Piper's ear-mark, and he had told Thompson that if witness came along he would say that the sheep had been stolen. Detective Fitzgerald, Constable Ryan and witness then went into the slaughter-house, which, the accused unlocked for them. They found there eight sheepskins, four of which were quite fresh, while the others were two or three days old. Three of the skins were similar in description to those on the sheep which his father had lost. The- heads were not on the skins, but one could get a very good idea a3 to the age of a sheep by the wool and skin. The skins as produced in Court were in the same condition as in the slaughterhouse, and the witness, examining them, showed that from each of them the right ear was completely missing ; on one only the stump of the left ear was found; on another the left ear was intact; and on the third the left ear was found to be almost severed. On Sept. 3 he counted closely the mob of sheep, and found that forty-six of the 30C were missing. Their paddock was about ten or twelve chains away from the accused's slaughtervard, and the fences were in good order. They had never sold any of the sheep to the accused, nor given him any authority to take them. Witness earmarked his father's sheep himself, and -was familiar with the sheep. Detective Fitzgerald deposed to arrest ing the accused on August 31 on a charge of sheep-stealing, and theD, with Constable Ryan, taking him to his slaughteryarc about a mile from the township. Then was a paddock of about four acres attachec to the slaughteryard, and in it wer<

twenty-nine sheep and seven lambs. : Nn.il looked through the mob and picked oui two, one of which he distinctly identifiec as being his father's property. The ac cused asked how Nutt knew the sheep be longed to his father, and Nutt replied tha he could see the ear-mark on one of them but he could not positively swear to thi other, as the ears ihad been cut away alto gether. The accused said that they wen not Nutt's sheep; that they were two o Piper's sheep, thirty of which he hat bought a month previously from Latter They were the only two left, and as the; were in lamb he had marked them, as h' did not want to kill them. A mai named G. Thompson, had, he said, bough ten cheep at the same time, and they coul< be seen running in his paddock. Piper' and Nutt's ear-marks were similar. A the time he had bought the sheep he ha< drawn Thompson's attention to this, sayin that if Nutt came along and found th sheep in their possession he would sa they were his, and that they had bee stolen. Witness, Constable Ryan and Nui afterwards went to the accused's slaughtei house, where the eight skins were fown

and taken possession of. Oa the following day witness wont to the slanghheryard witu Constable Ryan and a mam named Osborne, who, by order of the accused, took away twenty-one of the sheep. Witauss searched about the slaughterhouse and found several pieces of ears. He produced <bne in which he could distinguish three notches, the intervening ,pieces having been cut out. . He dug up some of the ground there, and found the carease3 of four lambs, two of which were nearly fit to bo dropped, and the other >t wo about a fortnight i'rom being dropped. It was on that same day that Mr <3oop claimed a sheep andtwo lambs. James Coop, fanner, "Little River, stated that he knew Natt's ear-mark, but could not 6ay whether it was l-egistered. He saw the sheep which had been claimed by Mr Henry Nutt as his father's property. He examined the ear-marks, but there were scarcely any left, though it appeared as if Nutt's mark had been cut away. One could trace the three notches, and though the cuts were healed up, they looted fresher than the notches. Witness saw seven sheep and six lambs in the yard, and on looking through them found one sheep which belonged to himself and his brother. It was one of a mob of 300 which 'they had bought from Mr 6. Fleming, at Addington, m "May. When they bought the sheep they had Mr Flemings-ear-mark — a fore-quarter out of the right ear, and a back quarter out of the left. Witness's mark was a fore-quarter out of each ear,andthesheepheclaimed had both marks, ilt was branded with a black smudge behind the shoulder. Witness and fhiß brother were noC very particular where they put the brand, sometimes behind the shoulders and sometimes further back. A faint trace of some other brand could be seen beneath the smudge. He had . sold some of the sheep at Addington about three months ago, but had sold none to the accused. The ear produced showed the traces of three notches ; between the baok and third notches it appeared as if the ear had been cut after the sheep was dead. Thomas Thompson, carpenter, stated that he lived only about forty yards away from the accused's slaughteryard. One day, about the middle of August} between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., he saw sheep moving about in the yard, and also saw the accused. The next day, in consequence of something a Maori named Taylor told him, he went to the slaughterhouse. Witness looked through into a lean-to attached to the slaughterhouse, and saw there four sheep with Nutt's ear-mark. Later on, the same day, he saw the accused go into the slaughterhouse, where the four sheep were, and stay there about an hour. When Little came out he locked the door, and witness went across and looked into the building; but it was dark, and hegpuld see nothing. • The next morning the accused took away four carcases from the slaughterhouse. Witness had, prior to that, had a look and had seen four sheep hdnging.up, skinned and dressed, and no sign of any live sheep. He had known the accused, before this, tc kill sheep at night. When he had seen Little at the slaughterhouse in the evening, he waited for a few minutes to see whether these four sheep came out, but did not see them. ' .. ' Henry William Piper, farmer, Duvauchelle'B Bay, stated that early in July he sold fifty-two fat ewes by auction, and a3 far as he knew Mr R. Latter bought them. His ear-mark, for ewes, which was on this lot, consisted of two V shaped pieces under the near ear. Bobert Latter, farmer and auctioneer, Barry's Bay, stated that he knew the accused, and in August, 1897, arranged to supply him with sheep and cattle for his butchering business, which he was then starting at Little River. Witness supplied him regularly up to July 3, when he forwarded to him ten sheep which he had purchased at Duvaucbelle'a Bay, from Mr Henry Piper, on July 1. As far as he remembered they had Mr Piper's ear-mark. He had seen the sheep outside the Court, but could not see any of Piper's sheep amongst . them. He had, however, only seen the sheep for about ten minutes after he bought them. Henry W. Piper, recalled, stated that he was certain that the sheep outside the Court were not any that had been sold by him. One or two of those he had sold to Mr Latter might have had a swallowtail on the left ear. George Thompson, drover, Little River, remembered getting ten fat ewes from Mr Latter, at Duvauchelle's Bay, in July. The accused went across for some sheep for himself, and brought witness's with him. It was dark when he arrived with them, so that witness could not • say how many the accused had of his own. The accused did not, as far as witness remembered, point out that Nutt's and Piper's ear-marks were similar, nor did he say that if Nutt came along and saw the sheep he would say they were stolen. Witness did not notice the ear-mark on the sheep. Richard Coop, farmer, in partnership with James Coop, corroborated his brother's evidence. This closed the case for the prosecution. The accused, on being cautioned in the customary way, reserved his defence, and was committed tor trial at the next session of the .supreme Court. Eail was fixed in two sureties of .£SO each and the accused's own recognizance of .£IOO.