TWO YEARS' GAOL

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 125, 23 November 1932, Page 9

TWO YEARS' GAOL

A SXATCHEE OF BAGS

WOMEN MUST BE PROTECTED

Eight charges of stealing , ladies' handbags and their contents, of a total Talue of £17 lls 6d, were made against Arthur Gordon Kale, aged 30, in the Magistrate's Court at Petone to-day. The offences were alleged to have taken place at Lower Hutt and Petone. He was also charged, with stealing three bicycles, one valued at £3, the property of the Self-Help Co-op., one valued fat £4, the property of Edwin Leary, and one valued at under £2, the property of some person unknown. He pleaded guilty, to all charges, and was sentenced to imprisonment for terms totalling .25: months.;. "■ / Detective \V. McLennan said that since Kale 's discharge from prison in September last he had gone to the Hutt Valley and had been, stealing .bicycles and riding round at night snatching bags from women. He had thrown most of the stolen bags into the river or the sea, but three had been recovered, also some of.the stolen cash. This class of offence was a" hard one to de-' tect, but women must be- protected. Kale had been before the Court several times previously. . : ' "NOT GIVEN A CHANCE." "Since,l've, been released," explain-! e<l Kale, "I've been refused relief work. I've walked from Wellington to Palmerstou North and all round the district hero for work. I've never been given a chance to prove myself a respectable citizen because I've not been able to get work. I've been offered a job in the country at the end of the'month, and if given a chance to take it I will prove myself a different man." ■■ .

Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., said that in view of Kale's previous convictions he could not agree to his suggestion to be given a chance. Kale had had several chances, but seemed to have entered into a career of bag-snatching and theft of bicycles, which must be regarded as serious because the offences were committed late at night and the victims -were women. Kale must be made an example to those tempted to follow in his footsteps. On each of the five charges, involving amounts over £2, Kale was sentenced to five months' imprisonment; the sentences to be cumulative. On each of the six lesser charges he was convicted and discharged. An order was made for the return of the stolen property.