THREE YOUNG MEN CONVICTED OF CONVERSION OF VEHICLES: GANGSTER METHODS EMPLOYED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 30, 8 December 1948, Page 5

THREE YOUNG MEN CONVICTED OF CONVERSION OF VEHICLES: GANGSTER METHODS EMPLOYED

Magistrate's Court ,

Three young men were convicted on vehicle conversion •charges when they were brought before Mr E. L. Walton, S.M., at the monthly sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Whakatane yesterday.

Wirl Kingi, aged 23 and Sam Takotohiwi, 18, pleaded guilty to the conversion of a motorcycle worth £IBO, the property of Arthur Wray, of Poroporo on the night of November 27, also to the conversion of Mr C. L. Jordan’s car worth £IOOO at Whakatane on the night of November 30. Henry Kingi, aged 22, was associated with the other two in the latter oifence and pleaded guilty to it.

Wiri Kingi was sentenced to 6 -weeks’ imprisonment with hard labour pn each of the two charges, cumulative, Henry Kingi to one month’s gaol. Takotohiwi was admitted to probation for 12 months.

, Constable R. F. Julian, prosecuting, said the cycle was taken from Wray’s garage at Poroporo and later found at Whakatane undamaged. Wiri Kingi admitted having taken it and pushed it along the road towards Whakatane, where he met '-Takotahiwi, who helped him ,to push it and start it. Jordan’s car was found abandoned in Mac Lean’s road, Edgecumbe, with £SO worth of damage to the undercarriage. The three young men had admitted planning the conversion during the theatre interval, when they knew Mr Jordan was always tied with a rush of business. Wiri Kingi started the car, and the others ran across the road and jumped in as he headed out of town. They drove to Lake Rotoiti, where they off the road and damaged the car, taking turns at driving it back. This type of offence had been prevalent here of late, and In this case there was a disturbing suggestion of gangster methods. He described the two older men as “just wasters”,* and said there was nothing he could say in their favour. Takotahiwi, however, was a bard-working youth of decent background who had been led into trouble by the others. Pleading for leniency for Takotohiwi, Mr B. S. Barry pointed out that the youth was a steady worker of good family and the sole support •of' an invalid mother and father.