Not Guilty Of Theft Of Motor Car

Chronicle (Levin), 22 July 1948, Page 9

Not Guilty Of Theft Of Motor Car

AndreTr Alexander Clark, labourer, of Nelson, appeared before Mr. Justice Btanton and a jury in the Supreme Court at Palmerston North yesterday, charged with the theft of a motor car v'alued at £350, the property of Peter John Ward, of Levin.' He pleaded not guilty. Af ter a rptirement of two and a half hours 'the jury found him not guiltyv . Alr. ' G. I. McGregor conducted the pros'eeutioH, and aceused presented Iiis own tlpfence. Th'p ease oceupied the fuli day. - Pete'r John Ward, garage proprietor, Levin, said he ltad hired a car to Allan RiChard Ross on' October 5, 1947, between 11.80 a.m. and noon, the car to be retiirned by 6 o'elock that evening. The man had produced his driver's licenCe. The car had not been returned tq witness, On February 25, 1948, he had idehtified accused as the man callLng^himself Ross, m a parade' at Nelson.- * . j l'd„ accused, "vvitness said he had ide.ntiited.-him in the photograph shown him by the police at Levin, two weeks before the identiiication parade. He might have seen accused before in con.nectidn ivitli fqotball at Silverstream. He had said in t'he Lower Court that he was iiot sure if he was shown a photograph of accused at Nelson when .witness was ■ ■ in' coinpaiiy witli two - -deteetiyes,. but he did uot thiuk he had •seen the photograph then. Be believed 'an- extehsion of hire timo was allowed ;th'e niAnlRoss, by his father, the same flay as the 'car was hired. 7 * h> b Hrnest' Frederick Ward, proprietor of •tlie Levin Hotel, said lie saw accused ' afe vthe garage on the Suuday morning aUdo later in the day saw him outside the hotel. Ro told witness lie wanted an extepsion of time on the car hire. Hc'said.iio was trying to iind a suitable atea in wliich to set up business as a plasterer. Witness did not give an exfension. of time. Next time witness saw the man Was in an identiiication pafade -of 12 men at Nelson. Accused Avas, the man. To accused, witness said he' did not remomber seeiug him in the hotel, exchpt when he spoke at the hotel enirahce' re"gai"ding"a'n extension pf time 'for the car hire. Detoctivc W. A. Parrish, of Nelson, said he interviewed accused regarding the car. Accused said he was uot Allan Richards Ross and had nothing ■ to do with. the car. Witness read a statement ftllcgedly inadc by accused claiining that he was at AVoodville. on the date concorned cauvassing for cars .to paint. I-Ie' had stayed at an hotel at Levin. He li'ad flown from Paraparauinii on October 7 -> laiiding= at Bleulioiui and goin'g by taxi to Nelson. At the identi.lication. parade Messrs P.-J. and E. F. •Ward identiiied accused as the man ?Who had hired the car. Accused had latjTr made another stateinent regarding liis inoveme'nts on October 5. He cltt.imedrhe had paiated the cars of two far'mefs at Apiti and had not left the Feilding district uutil October 6. He had 'been' driving a car hired to him by a nra'n nanied McMasters-, of Wellington. He had driven in it on Bepteni- ' ber 30' with the liceusee of an Ashhurst hotel. Witness said thero wag a -{liscrepsthcy- ilr'the two statements. In the .-iirst statement accused said ko stayed at the Woodville hotel under the t'ame of Pedler, and in the second 'Btatemont, that he Avas staying with tho farmer at Apiti. Althougli extensive inquirios had been made tliroughout the southerii half of the North Isiaud. •there was no trace of the car. ; To accused, witness said he knew accused was in a fairly diffieult iinancial positiou and that accused did not appeaf to liave beueiitcd by any linan.cial lift sueli as would accruc from thc Vale of a car. Ile considered accused s stateui^nts regarding liis movements "were, indefuiite. This concluded tlie case for the prosccution. William Ernest Stanley Elder, hotel ke'epor, of Feilding, said he could not recall seeiiig accused at his liotel oh October 5, but could reinember a cheque being presented. It was signed by a man named Osborne, it had beeu hououred on th'e following Aloiulay or Tuesday: lt was for about £30. I-Ie tliought the man who presented tho cheque was asked to liave himself couclied for, and that this was dono. He did not tliink that the man e'alling himself J. Donald had any meals at the hotel on October 5, althougli he stayed at the hotel on Sunday night and had breakfast on Monday morning. He thought accused was J. Donald. Accused could have. had his meals at thc hotel on the Sunday, October 5, althougli they were not noted in the casual meals book. Accused recalled Detective Parrish und from him obtained the infonnation that the signature "A. lt. Ross" vvritt.en for the police at Nelson, had uot been sufficient for the police handwriting experts to determine if he had lieen the man to sign th'e hire form for the car. Ile liad used the aliases in the North lslaiid because he was wanted by the policc for another mattei. In his address to the jury, accused asked if it Avere t.lie action of a car tliief to be in Levin the day af ter a car was taken. Thcre was every possibility that "Mr. Ross" was driving abotit in the stolen car with new licence plates. His address lasted 40 minutes. • Ninety miliutes after retiring the jury returned to question'the witnesses Ward regarding the methods used iii the initial identiiication ' of accused from the photographs in the Police . Gazette. Both witnesses said they perused the Gazette from 1937 to j.948. Peter John Ward stated that he ehose seven or eight photographs from the Gazette but he did not know if accused. was ainong them. At a later date hfe had been shown the photograph "of accused and identiiied him as the man Aho took the car. Ernest Frederick Ward said he did not identify accused from the Gazette until shown the single photograph. At Nelson he identified the accused f'roin his meniory of the man who took the car, not from the police photograph. The verdict was as stated.