BREAKING AND ENTERING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 9 April 1931, Page 2

BREAKING AND ENTERING.

THREE MEN COMMITTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association). WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The facts concerning a series of robberies at Kilbirnie were brought to light at the Magistrate's Court to-day, when Robert John Pomeroy, a packer, aged 2], and Frederick Sven La in berg, a joiner, aged 27, appeared before Mr W. IT. Woodward, S.M., to answer three

charges ,of breaking and entering and theft. The value of the goods stolen was £93 9s Sd. Samuel Joseph Pomeroy, a labourer, aged 20, was named in a charge involving the theft of goods valued at £l2 10s. All three pleaded guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

-Maurice S. <le Wolfe, ;i draper, of Kilbirnie, said that when lie arrived at his shop shortly before S a.m. on March .'list, he found that it had been broken into and goods, valued at £7B 11s Sd, stolen. A fanlight over the back door had been broken, and some holes had been bored at the top of the back door, near the lock. Another witness, .Julius 11. Marriner, manager of the Star Stores, Kilbirnie, said that his shop had been broken into on the night of March 11th or early the following morning, and tobacco and groceries, valued at £l2 10s, were missing.

Charles 11. 'L. Tucker, a confectioner, said that at 2.20 a.m. on. March 21st, lie was standing at the corner of Bay road and Seatoun road talking to Constable Fitzgibbon. They saw two men carrying swags walking towards Kilbirnie Crescent. Witness and the constable followed the two men into Kilbirnie Crescent, but when the men saw they were being followed they threw their swags over a fence. Constable Pit/.gib bon caught one of the men, Robert -John Pomeroy, and when he recovered the swag lie found it contained a quantity of chocolate and tobacco. When witness returned to Kilbirnie at about 4.20 a.m., after Pomeroy had been taken to the police station, lie found that his shop had been broken into, a tiled-down key having been used. Goods valued at £2 Ss had been taken.

Constable Fitzgibbon said Pomeroy admitted that he had broken into the shops, but refused to disclose the mynes of the men who had accompanied him. Witness later searched the premises occupied by the accused and found a quantity of goods similar to those stolen from the shops in Kilbirnie. Lam berg and Samuel Joseph Pomeroy, who were both in bed when the police arrived, were taken to the detective office, where they made statements admitting their share in the robberies.