MAGISTRATE'S. COURT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1142, 1 June 1911, Page 3

MAGISTRATE'S. COURT.

. (Before Mr. W. G. Eiddell, S.M.) - ALLEGED ROBBERY. OCCURRENCE IN A HOTEL. As the result of an occurrence in the Foresters' Arms' Hotel on' May 22, a man, named William Booth, appeared on remand yesterday charged with stealing j;l3 from tho "person of William ' Laskey. Chief Detective Broberg prosecuted, and Mr. H. F. O'Leary appeared for accused. William Laskey, labourer, residing at 31 Martin Square, remembered receiving £i from his landlady— £l in sovereigns, and JE2 in notes. That was on May 22. About noon on the same day, he drew £10 from bis savings bank account and, on coming out of the bank, met an acquaintance named Hicks, and had a drink with him in town. They then proceeded in company to. the Foresters' Arms' Hotel, arriving. there between i and 5 o'clock in the afternoon. After being in the Foresters' Arms Hotel- for some time, witness noticed the. accused there, and remembered that there was an argument over a football match. At 6 o'clock witness was still iri\ the Foresters' Arms Hotel, and then had same .£l3 in his hip pocket. During the argument about betting, witness had taken this money out of his pocket, and offered to bet, but no bet- had been made, and tho money was, in consequence, returned to his pocket. A few seconds afterwards a'hand was inserted into witness's pocket. Ho turned round, and saw Booth running off, and then found that two £o notes and two £1 notes had been taken from him. He was sure that it was accused who had taken the money. To Mr. O'Leary: He admitted having been in a number of hotels that day, but had not told anyone that ho had been in tho Occidental, the City Buffett, the Britannia, and the Royal Tiger before going to the Foresters' Arms Hotel. He had taken a good look at Booth as the latter was getting away from the hotel when tho affair happened, and could not make any mistake about him. Alfred fi; Hicks, cook on the Manuka, who had been in company with Laskey on May 22, gave evidence mainly corroborative of the previous witness' statement. Hicks had seen accused standing behind Laskey just before tin.- robbery, and was positnc that accused was tho man, who had put his hand into Laskey's pocket. Evidence was also given by Edward Lander, boardinghouse-keeper, and by Detective Hammond. On being formally charged accused pleaded not guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was allowed in the sum of £S0 : and two sureties of XlO or one of £SO. CHARGE REDUCED. William Gordon. 21 years of age, appeared on remand charged with 'breaking and entering the dwelling of Thomas Crates on or about May 2, and stealing therefrom a Savings Bank box and about •E5 in money, the property of Be?sic Crates. Sub-Inspector Sheahan asked that the charge be reduced to one of theft, as it appeared that accused had some authority for being in the house. His Worship agreed to ithe charge being reduced, and a plea of guilty was entered. It appeared that accused had occasionally bean sent messages to the house of complainant, and, on one occasion early in May, had gone there, and found no ono at home. Ho proceeded to the rtKim where ho knew That the box was kept, took it, and gave it to a boy to take to tho Post Office Savings Bank to bo opened, but, as no book was sent with it, tho officials refused to open it. Tho box was consequently taken away again by tho boy, and had not been recovored. There was a previous conviction againat accused in 1903. Mr. O'Leary suggested that the previous conviction had happened too long ago to be taken into account. Ho asked that accused be treated leniently, as he was mentally deficient. His client was willing -to refund the money, and the value of the box. tip till (lie time of this olfenco he had been in constant, employment, and 1-is employer was willing to take him back again, while his brother and sister would undertake to look after liim in [til-ire.

The magistrate recorded n conviction —1 /..-u~„i *m„z*,i t a romo , D t ' ol . £en .

tenco when called on, upon condition that .£5 10s. was refunded, this being the value of the money and box. THEFT FROM A CLOTHES-LINE. Patrick Scott, against whom there were previous convictions lor theft, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a shirt, valued at 55., the property of Joseph Levy. From' tho statement of C'hiofDctcctive Broberg, it appeared that the shirt had been taken from a -lothes-iine in the yard of the owner's premises, and was subsequently recovered from a. laundry. A fine of fOs. ■ was inposed, the option being seven days' imprisonment. OTHER CASES. Herbert William Bull was .-emanded to appear at Ohakune on Juno 7, on a charge of obtaining £6 from H. Stone on September 2!) last by means of ,"alse pretences. Cecilia M'lntosli, who admitted being found drunk during the currency of a prohibition order in force against her, was declared an habitual inebriate, and was sentenced to 21 day's imprisonment. John Mathiesan, for druuken.iess, was fined . 10s., with ithe alternative of IS hours' imprisonment. A first-offending inebriate was fined 55., with the usual alternative.