JUVENILE CRIME

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23972, 12 June 1943, Page 6

JUVENILE CRIME

CHILDREN BEFORE COURT

CHARGES OF FALSE PRETENCES ”Do you expect the Court to believe that you considered that all the clothes got by the child between March and June were out of her own earnings?” asked Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., In the Juvenile Court yesterday of a mother whose daughter, aged 151 years, faced nine charges of intent to defraud by representing to several Christchurch drapery firms that she was the sister of' another person. "Didn’t It strike you as an extraordinary amount of clothing for a child to have?” Senior-Detective Nuttali said the offences had been committed regularly until accused was arrested on June 12. Counsel for the accused said the girl was earning 23s a week and of this sum she paid 10s a week to her mother. Apparently the girl's obsession for dress led her into crime, and if she could not get things honestly she got them dishonestly. The mother of the accused, in answer to the Magistrate, said she knew where the child was working. She was receiving an allotment from her husband and herself was working. She was paying 30s a week for a two-roomed flat. Accused was remanded for six months, a condition being that she remain 'in a Receiving Home for that period. Her mother was ordered to make restitution of the sum of £l7 2s 7d. Another girl of 15} years was also charged on three counts with misrepresentation in an attempt to defraud a city firm of drapers. Senior-Detective Nuttali said the girl was employed In the city and was earning £1 13s a week. She represented that she was the daughter of a man who had an account with the firm. Restitution of the sum of £l3 16s 3d was asked for. The girl was placed under the supervision of the Child Welfare Department for two years and restitution of £l3 2s 3d was ordered to be made, with a solemn warning that if anything of this kind occurred again accused would be put in a place where she would get the discipline she deserved. MISUSE OF TELEPHONE

A boy aged 15 years was charged with misuse of public telephones. The police explained that accused looked up advertisements in the Lost and Found column of the newspapers and in the event of an article being lost - and the telephone number given, he would ring up the advertiser and make an appointment to return the missing article. The advertiser would keep the appointment but accused would not appear. The case was adjourned for a month, accused In the meantime to be examined by a psychiatrist. THEFT OF STAMPS A boy aged 13 years was charged with the theft of metal washers valued at Is 6d and 20 halfpenny stamps. Senior-Detective Nutfall said the boy was employed in a factory in the city, earning 19s 4d a week, and had taken the washers from the workshop. He had Inserted the washers in a stamp-selling machine and had collected 20 halfpenny stamps. In answer to the Magistrate the boy said the idea was one of his own. He had not been told what to do. "It was not a very nice thing to do," said the Magistrate. "You not only stole but vou also landed your little brother in trouble." The boy was placed under the care of the Welfare Officer for a period of two yeare.