NOT A SERIOUS CASE OF THEFT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18182, 15 June 1927, Page 1

NOT A SERIOUS CASE OF THEFT.

MAGISTRATE TAKES A LENIENT VIEW. “You have the extraordinary posit’on that this man twice rang up the police and notified them of the place where the bicycle was lying,”- said Mr Thomas when appearing before Mr H. B. La wry, * S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court this morning for Charles Edward Hunsley, who admitted a charge of stealing a horn and a tappet from a motor-cycle. Chief-Detective Lewis said accused was a paper runner whose work took him out in the early hours of the morning. He saw the bicycle and rang up the police and told them where it was lying. He took the articles mentioned from the cycle. When the police interviewed him about the. theft he admitted it. Mr Thomas, said that when the accused saw the bicycle lying on the road he thought it had been abandoned.. However, he went out of his way to inform the Sj'denham police where the bic3 r cle was lying. Later in the day he passed the spot again, and saw the bicycle still there. It was then that he took the articles. He again communicated with the police and told them that the bicycle was stili there. Mr Thomas said that accused’s act wa more one of larrik-nism than anything else. He was a decent, hardworking man, and had never been in trouble before. He suggested that, in view of the circumstances the Magistrate might suppress accused’s name. A fine of £2 was imposed. The Magistrate refused to suppress the accused’s name, stating that the fact that he was imposing a small fine instead of placing accused on probation' indicated , the view he took of the case.