THREE YEARS’ BORSTAL

Wairarapa Daily Times, 29 June 1933, Page 4

THREE YEARS’ BORSTAL

STOLE FROM EMPLOYER. PREVIOUS WARNING UNHEEDED. “The experience of the Court in regard to young men or youths placed under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer is that in nearly every case they respond, but you are’ one of the exceptional cases,” said Mr J. Miller, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court this morning,- to a youth named James Herbert Knipe, whom, he committed to a .Borstal institution for ,a period, of three, years, after lie had pleaded guilty to stealing from his employer, a Dalefield farmer, a watch and other articles to a value of £6, 3s. ' Sergeant Dyer told,the Court that the accused had been employed during the past four months by Mr G. A. Farrier, of Dalefield, as a farm hand. Accused lived in a whare at the rear of the homestead, and on 9th June last Mr Farrier left home for the week-end and locked the front part of the house. Accused was given the key of the kitchen door, in order that he could use the kitchen to prepare his meals during Mr Farrier’s temporary absence. On 10th June accused used the kitchen door key to open the front door, and gained entrance to a. bedroom, from which he stole a watch and chain, also suspenders and ties. When the articles were missed, Mr Farrier accused Knipe of taking them, which he admitted. When interviewed by the police, accused had been quite frank ih the matter, and said he had sold the watch to a- young man at Gladstone. The watch had been recovered, and the police were satisfied that the buyer had not been aware thatit had been stolen. Accused had been before the Court at Carterton on 13th April for a similar offence, and had been placed under the supervision of the probation officer, and ordered to come up for sentence if called on within twelve months.“This warning appears to have had no-effect, and he ; still carried on in his old ••way,-”- said Sergeant Dyer, who added that several complaints had been made of petty thieving in the Dalefield and Carterton districts, and there was a strong suspicion attached to the accused.

“There is only one thing to do in your case. You require discipline, and for that reason I commit you to a Borstal institution for a period of three years,” said Mr Miller, in convicting and sentencing the accused.