VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 169, 4 August 1937, Page 6

VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR

Prisoner Boasted "Weraroa Couldn't Hold Him" SCREWED PLATE OFF CELL An extraordinary stoTy of violent behavior and repeated eecapes f roin custody was revealed in the Hastings Magistrate's Court this morning when Charles Henry Irvine Bdrkett, farm labourer, aged 18, pleaded guilty beforo Mr J. Miller, S.M., to the theft of a blanket valued at 8/-, the property of Jessie McKenzie Ross, at Bridge Pa. Remarking that 4 'Borstal was the only thing," the Magistrate imposed a term of two years' Borstal training. Senior-Sergeant G. Sivyer said that. after the defendant had done a week's work in the country he stole a blanket and left suddenly. The police later arrestcfl him with the blanket in his possession. Before he had got clear of the paddocks around the house it was noticed that the bedroom where he had been s]eeping was on iire, the bedding having been set alight. The defendant said this was accidental, being the result of smoking in bed. At the police staion- the defendant's behaviour was bad. He unscrewed a plate on his cell doot and endeavoured to force his wav out. The police therefore had obtained the youth' s history from the Child Welfare Department. continued the senior-ser-geant. He had escaped from a policeescort just before his present offence. He had made nine escapes altogether, several of them from Weraroa training farm, where he had been sent repeatodly. .They apparently could not control him there. When arrested he had Aoasted to the police that "Weraroa couldn't hold him." Mr Miller : And apparently it can not. He has escaped so many times. From the report it seems to be a case of border-line mentality, The defendant, in evidence, said he had been working for a living and had tried to keep away from bad company.