Feilding R.M. Court

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 131, 3 May 1892, Page 2

Feilding R.M. Court

Monday, 2nd May. Messrs Bailey and Kirton, J.P.s). Alex. Boss, and old offender, wa s charged with having entered the dwelling of Hubert Boyce, of Taonui, and of taking ' away certain articles, Sergt. Anderson appeared for the police, and gave the par--1 ticulars of the evidence he would produce, i The house is the property of R. 0. E. Carey. j : Hubert Boyce, farm laborer, deposed ; j ;He lived at Taonui ; lived in a house, the ' property of R. 0. E. Carey ; paid no rent ; had the 6ole control of the building, and had been there about four months ; On April 22nd left his clothes— a suit and boots — in the bedroom, a handkerchief was in the coat pocket of the suit of clothes ; left the house at 7 a.m. ; the windows were securely fastened ; the door was fastened with an ordinary latch, a common lock, to which there was no key ; returned about 7 p.m. ; found the door as he left it, the windows were also as he left them ; missed the suit of clothes, boots, and handkerchief, also, a sleevelink; on the 23rd instant reported the offence to the police ; at the constable's office his attention was directed to a haudkerchief (bundle produced) tied up ; recognised it as the one stolen from his dwelling ; described certain peculiarities to Constable Tuohy before it was opened out ; identified the handkerchief, had it a long time, five years ; sleeve-link produced and identified ; authorised no one to enter the house to take away these things ; is in Mr Carey's employment ; the house is a quarter of a mile from Mr Carey's. George Parkes, working at a sawmill, deposed : He resided at Taouui, about li miles from Mr Boyce's, was not sure of the distance ; remembered Friday, April 22 ; saw the acensed at that place about 7 in the morning, he was going towards Mr Boyce's place ; was standing about a chain from the road when he saw accused, empty handed. Arthur Goldfinch deposed : He was a farmer, residing at Taonui, about half a mile from the bouse occupied by Boyce ; saw the accused passing down on Friday, the 22nd, last month, about 8 o'clock in the morning, in the direction from Boyce's hut; said " Good morning" to him, but he did not reply ; he was carrying a corn bag, with something in it, equal in bulk to a suit of clothes and a pair of boots ; saw him about two hours afterwards about half a mile from Feuding; he still had the same bag ; he turned off the road and went into Mr Turner's gate. By tbe Bench : Would swear to the man, although he had never seen him before. Richard Bowler, contractor, deposed : He resided in Feilding ; on Friday, 22nd of last month, was in the bar of the Denbigh Hotel ; saw the acensed there some time between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ; he came in, he thought, after witness, but was not sure ; he was there when witness left ; asked witness to buy a pair of boots from him ; saw part of the leather sticking out of the handkerchief; was positive accused was the man ; did not see hiui purchase a handkercheif from anyone when witness was there. By the Bench : The handkerchief was not the one produced. Constable J. J. Tuohy deposed: He was stationed at Feilding ; knew the accused ; arrested him at 2 p.m. on Friday the 22nd April, for drunkenness ; searched him ; found the silk hankerchief and an sleeve link ; Mr Boyce called at the police station on the following morning, and reported his whare had been broken into on the previous day ; he described the articles as recorded in the information ; took the articles found on prisoner ; tied them up in the handkerchief and put the bundle on a shelf in the office ; Boyce looked very hard at the handkerchief and said, " That's mine" ; asked him certain questions, and before the bundle was taken from the shelf he described certain peculiarities ; brought the bundle down and the handkerchief wae identified ; when the bundle was opened he identified the sleeve link ; went to the cell where prisoner was and told him he was charged with stealing the articles ; accused said he had bought the handkerchief from a man in the bar of the hotel tor 2s ; accused did not know who the man was, nor could he give any description of him ; made enquiries and found that instead of buying the handkerchief he had been trying to sell a pair of boots ; had not yet traced the suit of clothes or the boots. This was the case for the prosecution. Accused was committed for trial.