LIQUOR REMOVED FROM CELL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 301, 21 December 1939, Page 8

LIQUOR REMOVED FROM CELL

THREE MEN CHARGED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL BY SUPREME COURT GASES Al TALMARIM 1 Three men who were charged at Taumarunui yesterday with the theft of a quantity of l.quor from the New Zealand Government and others pleaded not guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court for trial. The police- alleged that the liquor was stolen from a locked cell at the J police station. The accused were Jim Braithwaite, George Thomas White and Alva Vernon McMinn. The charge was that on November 26, 1939, they did steal 102 bottles of beer, 17 bottles of whisky, half a bottle of whisky, a lemonade bottle of whisky, and a bottle of dry gin, of a total value of £2O Is. the property bf the New Zealand Government and others. The ■, police were represented by Detective- I Sergeant J. K. Robertson and Detective J. Murray, of Wanganui. John Abel, sergeant of police stationed at. Taumarunui, gave evidence to the effect that as the result of search warrants a quantity of illicit liquor had been found. It was seized, taken to the police station and put in a cell. (fell Was Locked. "The door of the inside cell, where 1 the liquor was stored, was fastened with a Yale padlock, and that padlock was kept locked and I had the key," ' said witness. "When there were no prisoners in the cells, the outer door 1 was left bolted but unlocked." Witness sale 1 that he and Constable C. J. R. Bissett made sure that the liquor was intact at 10.30 p.m. on the night of November 25. Witness then 1 handed the key’s over to the constable and went on leave. ; Taxi Driver On An "Urgent Job" A taxi-driver gave evidence, stat- , ing that, he was called at 3.16 a.m. on Sunday, November 26, for what was said to be an urgent job. He , was accompanied by "Slim" Braithwaite. Witness described being told where to drive. Braithwaite asked ' him to drive into King’s alleyway. He first went into the wrong alleywav turned round and then drove t into the right one to a cattle stop alongside a timber stack. There the , lie fits of the car shone on the other , two accused, George White and . ’Snowy" McMinn, witness continued. t "They were alongside the stack," witness said, adding that something ] was put into the back of the car. t They all got in and witness drove off. , He drove, as instructed, down Taupo , Road, over Matapuna Bridge, cross- j ed over the railway line and wen 1 I ( slung the racecourse road. “I keptjt an until we came to a place between the Wanganui River Bridge and Ken Kelland’s property, when I was told 1.0 pull up," witness said. The accused all got. out. and unloaded the ; “stuff” they had on board. Witness • then noticed that they had taken his tool box out of the car and as he put,! it back he noticed three cases, two benzine boxes and a small case on the edge ot a b*nk near the car. He could not say what was in the cases. , "Apart from the statement that it was an urgent job, I was not inform- , ed what it was that I was wanted for." said witness. Saw Form Move. Douglas William Campbell Neill, salesman, who said he drove Mr. Kelland home at 4 a.m. on Sunday, November 26, said he noticed something leave the road and go towards the right-hand side. This was 200 or 300 yards from Mr. Kelland’s house, ft was shortly before daybreak and the I lights of the car were on. He could not say whether one or more forms moved. Further on some boxes on the side of the road attracted his attention. He pulled up alongside them and had a look with the aid of an ; electric torch, say/ that ' t - wo i were empty and that a third had a sack or something similar on the top of it. Two of the boxes shown in | Court were like those he saw at the | side of the road. Witness said that on his return to th” spot after driving Mr. Kelland home he noticed that the cardboard | box had disappeared. Mr. Kelland, I who had accompanied him back to | the spot, got out of the car and called j out for whoever was there to come | out. Nobody came. There was no i sound. Discoveries by the Police. Christopher James Robert Bissell. ) constable stationed at Taumarunui. gave evidence as to discovering that ; ?nc liquor had been missing from the cell. He identified the boxes shown j ill Court as similar to those which had been taken. Witness told how he and Detective J. Murray, ot Wanganui. had found some of the Court exhibits in some willows on the back road leading to Manunui. In some fern at the side of the road witness found a piece of foolscap with the name "Pederson” written on it. He identified that as having been placed on the liquor whir-had been in the cell Witness also A and on the righthand sine of the r-.ud a label that had been pasted to a lemonade bottle removed from the cell. Detective Murray and he, witness said, went to Braithwaite's place and executed a search for liquor. They had a warrant. In some bushes or scrub, a chain from the house, they found 26 bottles of Waikato special draft beer which were now produced. Three Breadalbane whisky bottles had been found also, and they smelt strongly of whisky. The beer and the v hisky bottles were similar to those stolen. All three accused denied having been on the back road early on the morning of November 26.