GOODS STOLEN FROM HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 190, 10 May 1944, Page 6

GOODS STOLEN FROM HOUSE

Two Men Found Guilty OWNER AWAY ON HOLIDAY The story of how‘No. 51 Thompson Street, Wellington, was broken into on January 7 and a quantity of goods was stolen while the occupier of the premises and his wife were on holiday in Auckland was related in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday, when 1' redencK George Philip Lester, seaman and labourer aged 38, and Basil George Knox, labourer and butcher, aged 32, were jointly charged with entering the premises and committing the crime of theft, also with stealing goods from the premises of a total value of £4OO. The case was heard before Mr. Justice Blair and a jury of 12. lhe Crown Prosecutor, Mr. W. H. Cunningham, conducted the prosecution; Mr. G. L George appeared for Lester; and Mr. J. D. M illi® for Knox. Both accused pleaded not ° U Roslen Harvell Wentworth Howard. 51 Thompson Street, said he and his wife left on Boxing Day on a holiday, leaving the doors and windows of the house securely fastened. He took the key of the front door, leaving the key of the back floor in the lock. He asked Mr Hall, a next door neighbour, to keep an eye on the place. Witness and his wife went to Auckland and returned to Wellington on January 8. He had been informed while in Auckland that his house had been broken into. He placed the value of, the goods taken from his house at £4OO. He valued a tea service at £5O. John Hamilton Hall, student, o 3 Thompson Street, said that about J o’clock one morning he saw a man in Howard’s garden, and called out to him that no one was at home. Witness saw this man clearly and could identify him as accused Knox. . Elizabeth Adams, married woman, Thompson Street, said her house was almost directly opposite Howard’s residence. One morning early in January she saw a truck come down Thompson Street and stop opposite Howard’s gate. Two men were in the truck, one of whom went and knocked at the side door, while the other remained by the truck. Later witness heard a noise in the street and saw a wireless set on the lorry, which then drove off. Witness identified Lester as the man she had seen standing by the truck. ■ Minnie Paterson, married woman, 4a Thompson Street, said that during the first week of January, while working m her garden, she saw two men going along the street carrying carpets. One of the men was thick set and the other of slighter build. Ellen Ryan, widow, 168 Tory Street, said that accused Knox rented a room in her house in January and stayed for about a week or a fortnight. Knox had a carpet, suits and silverware under his bed. ,' The carpet was a beautiful one. There was also a suitcase and an overcoat in Knox’s room and a number of coathangers. Knox" brought a motor-car to the door and removed the goods from his room. On the following Monday morning she heard Knox say “We had better be going and; take these stolen goods with us.” After Knox had left she found three coathangers in his room, which she handed to detectives. Blanche East, widow, 5 Tinui Road, Hataitai, said that in January she let a room to Knox, who gave her his naifie as Thomas. Accused Lester came to the house later. They came on January 12 and left on January 19. Witness noticed that one man had a nice brown Harris tweed sports coat hanging behind the door, and she noticed in a chest of drawers a quantity of linen, which had apparently never been washed. f Defective J. H. Alty said he interviewed Lester on January 28 at his room in Cuba Street. Accused said he knew nothing about goods taken from a house in Thompson Street. Witness questioned him about a hat he was wearing, and Lester said it was his own. Howard later identified the hat as his property. Lester then said he had bought it from, Knox. Handkerchiefs and a shirt were found in the room, and these were also identified by Howard as his property. Lester said these articles belonged to Knox. The following day the articles, were shown to Knox, who said they did' not belong to him. When asked where he had obtained the silverware he had removed from Tory Street, he made no reply. When told that he had been in the car which removed the goods, he replied, “I was not the only one; perhaps I was going for a ride.” He denied that he ever had anything in his room in Tory Street, and said he had never seen the goods in the Cuba Street house before. Called by counsel for the defence, Amy Louisa Hislop. 216 Cuba Street, said that Lester on January 5 called on her and rented a room. He said about a week later that a Mr. Knox wished also to rent a room from her, and he did so. Knox brought two suitcases with him. These contained shirts and a couple of hats, which he threw on the dressingtable, He .nut on one of the hats, and asked how he looked in it. He said Lester could have the hat, and also another one. She had seldom seen Lester wearing a hat. After counsel had addressed the jury, and his Honour had summed up, the jury retired at 3.43 p.m., and returned at «> p.m., with a verdict against both accused of guilty on the theft charge, and not guilty on the charge of breaking and entering. Accused were remanded for sentence.