HOUSES SET ON FIRE

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22674, 30 July 1945, Page 4

HOUSES SET ON FIRE

LABOURER FOR SENTENCE REMARKABLE STORY TO POLICE (By Telegraph.—Press Association) AUCKLAND, Monday Lengthy charges, including four of wilfully setting fire to dwelling houses, were preferred against Ronald Dempsey Crook,, aged 33, described as a labourer, in the Police Court before justices this morning. Other charges were of breaking and entering the four houses concerned and stealing articles of a total value of £430. Crook was further charged with breaking and entering a fifth house at Takapuna and stealing goods to a value of £43. DetectiveSergeant Fell prosecuted. Accused was not represented by counsel. Insurance assessors gave details of the insurance on four houses damaged and estimates of damage by the fires. The value of one house before the fire was £6OOO and the cost of reinstating the house was given at not less than £833. The contents were damaged to an extent of £2500. Another house was also valued at £6OOO and the cost of reinstatement was put at £I4OO. with £BO damage to contents. The cost of reinstating the third house was £2OOO. with damage to contents at £740. At the fourth house the contents were damaged to the extent of £6OO. Detective-Sergeant Fell said the total damage by the four fires was approximately £7383 to the houses and approximately £5432 to the contents, making a total of £12,815. Statement By Accused In the opening paragraph of his statement to the police Crook said he was a cook by occupation. He declared he did not know the cause of his doing these things but he had his own reasons and now wanted to explain all and clear things up. because what he did was wrong in law. He added that he had his own ideas about these things. “On June 20 I went by tram to Victoria Avenue, intending to see a man to whom I owed ten shilling. On my way down I called at Mrs Dransfield’s place to inquire where the man lived, but there was no one at home. I walked down as far as the man’s place but decided I wouldn’t give him the ten shillings back. ‘I had the spike* a bit and went back and set fire to Mrs Dransfield’s place. I broke a glass panel in the front door with my fist and opened the lock. Upstairs I saw what a lot of nice things she had and thought I would take some.” Dresses Set On Fire Accused then told how he put a number of articles in a suitcase before setting fire to the house in two wardrobes upstairs. “I lit a match and held it to a thin silk dress until it flared up and then went to the other room and lit some dresses in that wardrobe,” continued the statement. “I closed the doors of the wardrobes after lighting the fire and went downstairs, packed the silver in the case and left the house, closing the front door.” Accused then detailed how he rang for a taxi and then gave the fire alarm. Getting into the taxi, he drove back to the house, got up and had a look at the fire, then drove to the city. “I had the same sort of idea i» my head on the night of June 23,” said Crook. “Just after nine o’clock I walked down Victoria Avenue and saw house No. 17 in darkness. I knocked on the door to see if anyone was there. No one answered and I pushed in the glass near the lock and opened the door. Inside I did just what I did at Mrs Dansfield’s, finding an old attache case and taking some small pieces of iewellery. Just before I went out I started a fire in the wardrobe upstairs. I just struck a match and set fire to the dresses.” Alarm Given to Brigade Accused then said how he walked to the top of Victoria Avenue and when he did not see the fire going returned to the house. Later he gave 'he alarm himself from a call box bofore getting on the tram for the city. “On June 30 I had the same sort of idea and walked down Victoria Avenue. I had sorted out the house at No. 55 because I had been looking up the directory and knew the Cohens lived there. I don’t like Jews and sorted him out because his name was Cohen. I went to this house just after nine p.m., after telephoning from the corner and getting no answer. I broke the glass panel in the front door and inside did the same thing again.” Accused said the articles taken from this house included business papers, bankbooks, an overcoat, a bottle of liquor and an £BOO war bond. Again the fire was started by lighting clothing in the upstairs wardrobe. Crook said the war bond and papers were later burned and the suitcase and keys sunk in the harbour. Some Articles Sold Telling of the fire at Heme Bay on July 9, accused said he went to that district to see a man but got lost and finally found himself in Sarsfield Street. No. 53 was in darkness, and when no one answered his knock he broke a glass panel and opened the door. After taking a number of articles he started a fire among dresses in the wardrobe. Concluding the statement, accused said a number of the articles stolen from the houses were sold in Auckland and Wellington. In a second statement accused said he intended to set fire to a house at Takapuna but decided not to do so as it was not owned by a man named Cohen, as he thought. At the conclusion of the evidence the accused pleaded guilty to all charges and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.