HORSE THIEF SENT TO GAOL BY S.M.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 31 March 1931, Page 6

HORSE THIEF SENT TO GAOL BY S.M.

TOOK ANIMALS FROM HIS FATHER’S PADDOCK. Four months’ hard labour was the sentence imposed on lan Stewart, a labourer, of Templeton, aged thirty years, when he pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court this morning to stealing two draught horses at Dunsandel on March 21, the property of Donald Stewart, his father. “ Had you been convicted for an offence involving dishonesty before, you would have got the maximum penalty, twelve months’ imprisonment with hard labour. It isn’t possible to overlook such an offence," said the Magistrate (Mr E. D. Mosley). Chief-Detective Carroll said that the accused went to the paddock where his father kept his horses and took two to Riccarton, where he kept them until March 23. He then sent them to Kaiapoi where they were sold for £39. He was paid by a post-dated cheque and had not cashed it up to the time of his arrest. Accused’s last conviction was in 1922 for assault. The horses were sold under the name of Campbell. “ Have you anything to say for yourself?” asked Mr Mosley. The accused; I was drunk when I took the horses, that's all.” Y r ou are a man of thirty years. You should have known better.—-Yes. The Chief-Detective said that Stewart had not been living at home, but had been working on a threshing mill.