PAY CLERK ROBBED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 118, 15 November 1939, Page 11

PAY CLERK ROBBED

USE OF VIOLENCE

TWO MEN FOR SENTENCE

EVIDENCE IN, LOWER

COURT

Robbery, with violence was admitted in the Magistrate's' Court today-y by Robert Milton, aged .39, a labourer, and Anthony Bradford, aged 25, a heating engineer,' who on the afternoon of November 2 stole £267 from a pay clerk in the new M.L.C. building in Lambton Quay, were apprehended and had. the money taken from them, and then escaped. ■•'■'

The charge .against them was that they robbed W. E. Parr of the money, with violence. They pleaded guilty and were committed by Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M;, to the Supreme Court for

sentence. Detective-Sergeant W. McLennan conducted the police case and Mr. H. R. C. Wild represented the accused. William Edwin Parr, a pay clerk employed by W- M. Angus, Ltd., at Wellington, said that tlie firm were the contractors for the new M.L.C. build- ' ing at the corner of Lambton Quay : and Hunter Street. .Both the accused '. werei employed' by a sub-contracting firm on the building for about two months before October. The witness knew them both well by ' sight. , He always took the pay for his firm's men to the building ort a Thursday afternoon "and he did so on November 2, carrying the. money, £267 13s Bd, in a small leather brief bag. He entered the building by the main entrance and walked towards the stairs, which were set back slightly and hidden by a wall. The passage was fairly dark and the witness saw Milton standing againstthe wall at the foot of the stairs, and as soon as the witness noticed Milton the latter attacked him and grabbed, him round the neck, attempting to pull him into a cupboard behind the stairs. Bradford then approached from behind. The witness called out at first but stopped when one of the men got a hand over his mouth as they dragged him beneath the stairs, where they hit him and dragged him to the ground, ahd hit him again. During the struggle they tried to get the bag.. The.witness held on .to it as long as he could, but he became semi-conscious and they took the bag "with the money. As-the witness attempted to rise again the men began hitting him, and they then left the building with the bag. - CHASE IN STREET. '.-' The witness asked two men working outside to go after those who had taken the bag, and the men did so, bringing the accused; back to the building with the bag. The bag was taken from.them but they escaped before they could be handed over to the, police. • The witness said he received fairly severe head and face injuries, necessi-, tating hospital attention. • ' Cross-examined ,by Mr. Wild, the witness said that the. accused- attacked him only with their, fists. - He could not say that they were under thednfluence of liquor. Dr. W. R: Cafswell,:a-house surgeon at the Wellington Hospital, gave evidence of trie injuries received by Parr, wKichrW said, consisted '" of" severe: bruising of the right side of the "face; and head. Thi* injuries: suggested that he ; .had been the victim of a severe To Mr. Wild, the, doctor Said there was no permanent .injury, -arid Parr did not stay .in.hospital;.".. ;X, X. .'.. .'.. X ' -X'xXx- signs; OF DRiNKy y ,-XxX Stewart Butler Coven ey, a lorry driver,-said'he got-to know both the accused when they virere working on the M.L.C. building. ■■■•-On: the- aftei> noon of November 2 he was standing by his lorry outside the building when Parr arrived with his face covered with blood. As a result of what Parr said the witness noticed two men going down Hunter Street, and' he ran after them and caught then! near the corner of Customhouse Quay. He then recognised them as the accused. Bradford was then carrying the bag reported by -Parr, to;have' been: taken:; * The witness put a headlbck on Brad-, ford • and asked him what* his: game was and told him he could not get away with it. He took the bag and gave it to Parr. Another man named Widderstrom caught hold of Milton, and they brought the two accused back to the M.L.C. building and put them in a shed. On the way there Brad--ford said: "Let me go. Let me go," arid he asked them not to get the police^ While Parr and Widderstrom were getting a constable the accused escaped from the;shed."' *■■'

To.Mr. Wild, the witness said that the accused did not resist when apprehended. In the opinion of the witness Milton was definitely drunk and Bradford showed signs of drink, but did not appear to.be as bad as Mil/ton. "They knew What they were doing, all the same," added the witness.

Re-examined by Detective-Sergeant McLennan, the; witness said that the accused might have been feigning

drunkenness, but it did not occur to him that they had done so. . , *

BLOODSTAINED CLOTHING.

Detective G. Hogan • said -that at about-7 p.m. on November 2, .with Detective Urquhart, he~ made a search of tlie- Limited express, -which was to leave" for Auckland at 7.15,' and ih a second-class' carriage he found the two accused. They went to the detective ofiice, where the witness found bloodstains on the right sleeve and right coat pocket of Bradford's suit,.and on his hat and handkerchief. -Bradford said the stains were from his righthand forefinger knuckle, which had a ragged cut on it. with fresh blood; He said he had .fallen down some Stairs. There were "bloodstains oil; the right sleeve of Milton's sports coat and on his hat. Milton offered no explanation of them. When the- detective first located the accused they were, in his opinion, perfectly sober.

STATEMENT BY BRADFORD

Detective W. Ritchie said he interviewed the accused. Bradford said he did not Wish to say. anything. Milton said he had not been in the M.Ii.C. building that afternoon arid knew nothing about the affair. Next day Bradford said he wished to make a statement. He did so, and in it said he went to the building on November 2 with Milton to get. his tools.- They had been drinking and were drunk. They saw the. pay clerk and he was not sure what happened next, but they attacked him and took the bag. ."The whole thing seems like a nightmare to me now," said Bradford, who added he could give no reason for the. affair. They had never thought about, it previously. He was very drunk ,at the time.

To Mr. Wild the detective said that people who knew the men expressed surprise that they should be mixed up in such an affair.