THEFT OF OUTBOARD MOTOR ALLEGED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 146, 16 March 1939, Page 13

THEFT OF OUTBOARD MOTOR ALLEGED

Magistrate Dismisses

Charge

FORMER EASTBOURNE MAN BEFORE COURT A charge against Leslie David Brooker, aged 24, Gisborne, for nterly a petrol station proprietor in Eastbourne, of the theft of an outboard motor valued at £25, the property of Francis W. Pullyn, dentist, Palmerston North, was dismissed by Mr. A. M. Goulding, S.M., in the Magistrates' Court, Petone, yesterday. A charge against Brooker of the theft of car wheels, rims, tyres and tubes, valued at £lO, the property of Frank T. Fitzgeorge, was adjourned for a fortnight. Senior-Sergeant H. C. D. Wade prosecuted. Mr. A. H. Macandrew represented accused. Ernest Albert Jones, garage proprietor, Wairoa, said that Miss Brooker brought a car through from Wellington for him on February 23. In it was an outboard motor sent by accused, who stated in an accompanying note that lie had bought it cheap, and had sent it to see if it were of any use to him. Parts were missing, and when lie telephoned an outboard motor sales service firm in Auckland regarding these he was informed that a motor of this type had been stolen from Wellington. He then informed the Wairoa police. Brooker called on March 4, when he informed him of what he bad learned, and advised him to see the police in Gisborne, whither he was then going. Brooker had a boat on a trailer with him; he was going to use the motor on this 'boat, but all the parts were not there. Brooker took the motor away. Cross-examined, Jones said that when told about a similar motor having been stolen, Brooker said he had bought this one from a man in Wellington who was not well known to him. , . Pullyn said he left his launch with the motor attached at Point Howard at 2 p.m. on February 22. It was missing at 11 o'clock that night. It cost him £75 new.

Senior-Sergeant’s Evidence,

Senior-,Sergeant Wade, in evidence, said that Pullyn reported the loss ol the motor on February 23. On March 3 Brooker, whom lie had known for some time, called at the police station to say good-bye to him as he was returning to Gisborne. Brooker had a trailer with his car and in it a speedboat which be said he was going to race on the Wairoa River. He said that Jones had an engine in Wairoa which be thought might fit the boat. On March 6 Brooker returned to the police station. He had the speedboat with him and the stolen motor. Brooker said that Jones had advised him that a similar motor had been reported stolen, and, on hearing that, he had returned direct to Wellington, lie said that about February 23 he bought the motor from an unknown man who came into tlie garage he then had at Eastbourne. This man offered it for £5; he paid cash for it and got no receipt. He had not seen this man since. His sister was on a visit to Wellington and was taking a car back to Wairoa for Jones so he put the motor in this car for her to leave at Jones's garage. Senior-Sergeant Wade concluded that after this explanation he had no option but to arrest Brooker. Mr. Macandrew submitted that the only evidence was that of possession, and, though that was suspicious, such suspicion was largely removed by the actions of accused, who had not acted a s a thief would. Dismissing the charge of theft of the outboard motor, the magistrate said that he did not think a jury would convict accused of it. He bad spoken of the motor to Senior-Sergeant Wade before going to Wairoa, and, though he bad not told a quite accurate story, it was hard to say whether or not, at that stage, he intended to be dishonest. He had returned to Wellington when informed of the fact of a similar motor being missing and told SeniorSergeant Wade of the one he bad. No jury would convict of theft on the evidence, though Brooker’s actions laid him open to suspicion. It was suspicious when a person, having heard that a theft was discovered, told the story of the unknown vendor. It was possible that a charge of receiving could have been laid, but it had not been.