THEFT OF LAMB

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 96, 17 January 1935, Page 4

THEFT OF LAMB

Magistrate’s Court Cases

CASE STOLEN FROM CAR

Further explanation of the charge of stealing a lamb, preferred against three men in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington on Tuesday, was made in the court yesterday, when they appeared again to have bail fixed. They had pleaded guilty the previous day and been remanded until Friday. The accused were: Robert Edward Cobbe, aged 32, painter; Raymond Charles Hill, aged 33, labourer; and Hector Lillyman Hailwood, aged 28, painter. Mr. R. Hardie Boys, who appeared for accused, recalled that the remand had been granted because the police had arrested the men on information given to them over the telephone that the men bad been seen to take a sheep from the Paekakariki Hill and knew little more of the facts of the case. The men were employed at the Patent Slip, said Mr. Boys, and, having no work to do on Monday, had taken a trip to Paekakariki where they had drunk sufficient liquor to affect their judgment.

On the way back the car had struck and injured the sheep. They put the animal out of pain by killing it and then did what they should not have done—they decided to make use of the meat —and took it with them. Asking that bail be not heavy, Mr. Boys said that the case was such that the punishment would probably be a fine. The men were not “rustlers.” Unfortunately they had not been frank with the police who found the carcase by searching the home of one of the men. Bail was fixed at £5O each in the men’s own recognisance by Messrs. D. H. Edgar and 11. D. Grocott, justices of the peace. Theft From Motor-car A sentence of six months’ imprisonment was imposed on William Henry Homes, aged 49, for stealing an attache case and its contents, valued at £2/10/-. the property of Francis Thomas Bryant. Senior-Sergeant O’Neill said that the owner of the case left it in his parked car in Sussex Street while he practised cricket at the Basin Reserve. Upon his return a woman told him that she had seen a man take the case, and accused was found by Bryant nearby in possession of the case. Accused was a bad sneak thief. He had been before the court on numerous previous occasions and it was not safe for people to leave property in their cars while he was about. Assault Alleged “There is quite a lot known about the man and it is a bad assault,” said Senior-Sergeant D/ J. O’Neill in response to a request by Mr. Boys that ball be light when Harokj Daggs, aged 31, seaman and labourer, was charged with assaulting Kathleen Reid and causing her actual bodily harm, and with assaulting Bertie Herd, both on Tuesday. Mr. O’Neill said that the woman had been removed to hospital for the treatment of the injuries which she was said to have received. The amount of bail .was fixed at £lOO. Charge of Theft From Shop Charged with attempting to steal six pairs of men’s shoes, the property of Lindsay’s Ltd., valued at £lO/10/-, and four suits and other clothing, tlie property of Vance Vivian Ltd., valued at £3O, Harold George William Stevenson was remanded, until January 23, bail being allowed in one surety of £lOO.