YOUTHFUL DESPERADOS

Evening Star, Issue 23377, 21 September 1939, Page 14

YOUTHFUL DESPERADOS

ATTACKS ON SERVICE STATION ATTENDANT ROBBED AND STUNNED [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON. September 20. , A service station attendant. Charles Williams, related in the Magistrate’s Court to-day the ordeal he experienced when two men armed with revolvers robbed the station on the night of August 1. The premises were those of Messrs Shenvin and Morton Wakefield, and the accused, John M'Donald, aged 21, a steward, and Horace Timothy O’Connor, aged 17, a labourer, both pleaded guilty and were committed for sentence. Williams said that there was an extra large number of customers that night, and he was detained till after 11 o’clock, when he commenced to balance up. the cash taken while he was on duty. Just as he went to place the cash in a safe, he heard a knock on the office door. He did not answer immediately, hut remained still in the office. Then he walked over to the main door and looked through a glass panel. He saw a man outside who resembled a fellow-employee. He opened the door and said, “ Hello. Cleve.” He then discovered that the man was not an employee, but O’Connor, threatening him with a revolver. Both men entered one ordering witness to put his - hands up. He saw O’Connor taking the cash from the desk and till while keeping witness covered. M’Donald told him to face the wall, and as he ■ did so he was hit over the head with a heavy instrument, and received a second blow while falling. He was again hit on the floor and became unconscious. On recovering he found that the men had gone, and he got in touch with the police. ... One of the partners in the firm said that £23 5s lid was missing. Statements were put in by the police relating to the present charge and. a similar offence at Hastings. Detective Cainpin said that the attendant at Hastings resisted, and the youths abandoned a revolver and a bludgeon. The revolver would not fire.