MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1929, Page 13

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

This morning's sitting of the Magistrate s- Court was presided over by ffr. Ji. rage, S.M.

A first, offender for drunkenness was convicted and discharged, and another t td n°fc appear ' had hia bail of los

For his second offence of drunkenness within six months, Myles Valentine, aged 35, was fined £1, the amount of his bail. Appearing on remand, Albert Ernest Kearns, alias Vale, alias Carr, pleaded guilty to a charge of having obtained goods ?£ o ??T7, to the value of £17 12s 6d from the Self-Help Co-operative Stores by false pretences. Chief Detective Lopdell said that a young man who had given the accused a ride from Eastbourne subsequently missed a cheque signed by his lather, from a cheque-book he carried with him for business purposes. This Kearns filled in and issued to the SelfHelp Stores. He had a previous record. Counsel for the accused, Mr. J. Garbett, said he thought the record dated from the time Kearns returned from the war. Mr1. Page: "That is not correct. There are offences dating from 1905 for theft, false pretences, vagrancy, etc.; twelve charges prior to the war." Counsel said he thought the present offence had been committed more through economic stress than criminal tendency on the part of the accused.

The Magistrate mentioned that when last convicted Kearns had been declared an habitual criminal. He would be sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour.