WILFUL DAMAGE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21245, 16 October 1940, Page 9

WILFUL DAMAGE

BUTCHER’S SHOP ENTERED FLOOR STREWN WITH SAUSAGE ARMY DESERTER'S OFFENCES (Special lo Times) TE AVvaMUiu. Tuesday After arrest at Wellington on September 30, a young man, Reginald Oliver Castle, appeared before Messrs G. A. Empson and H. C. Rainey, justices ot the peace, at the Te Awamutu Court this morning on charges of breaking, entering, and theft and of committing mischief and wilful damage. Constable H. Caseldine prosecuted and accused was not represented by counsel. Douglas John McAlpine, of Te Awamutu, butcher, said that on September 17 at his butcher shop in Alexandra Street at 5.30 a.m. he found luncheon sausages broken and strewn about the floor. A mutton carcase had been slashed so that it was unfit for sale. Near the till, which had been rifled, he found a note reading: “Why couldn’t you leave a few quid in the place?” Money had been taken from a stamp box, about 5s being the extent of the financial loss. At the rear of the shop butchers’ aprons and coats had been slashed. Entrance had been made by removing the skylight. Detective W. Sleath, of Wellington, said that he arrested Castle at Wellington on a charge of theft and interviewed him about the entry into McAlpine’s. Accused made a statement admitting the offence. He stated that he had deserted from the army at Ngaruawahia and gone to Auckland whence he set out for Wellington with a mate At the end of a day’s stay at Te Awamutu he lost his companion and wandered about the streets until finding his way to the back of McAlpine’s shop. There he climbed to the roof and let himself. into the shop through the skylight. He was disappointed with his search for money and gave vent to his rage by slashing things with a butcher’s knife which he picked up frem the counter. He spent the night under a hedge and then hitch-hiked to New Plymouth and eventually made his way to Wellington. On the major charges accused, after pleading guilty, was committed to the Supreme Court at Auckland for sentence. On the minor charge, he was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment.