A STOLEN CYCLE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 February 1927, Page 1

A STOLEN CYCLE

GREYMOUTH, Feb. /18

A charge that, at Greyniouth, on October tin last, ho .stole a, bicycle valued at £O, tlie property of Frederick George Goetzger. was laid against Henry Edward Greemvay yesterday at the .Magistrate’s Court. Pleading not guilty on accused’s behalf. Mr Joyce asked that the case he treated summarily. Frederick George Goetzger. railway fireman,' said the cycle exhibited in Court was his. Ho left it in the lane at the back of the Oriental Hotel about 9 p.lll. \Ylien he returned ten minutes later, the cycle was gone. He next saw it at the Police Station. Robert Mountl'ord. miner, of Blackball, said that accused was boarding at his house for some time. Accused brought a cycle to Blackball some time in October Witness used the cycle, but did not purchase it; Greenwav told him he could use it. and theie was no concealment about the matter. Mrs Gladys Mountfoi'd said lie asked accused where lie “scored the cycle, and he replied that he bought it from a “cobber- who bad done bis monov at the races.’’ Later she bought the cycle from accused tor £2 Constable Honey, of Blackball produced a statement made to him by accused. in which tlie latter said he bought tlie cycle from a man. whom he did not know. He liought at m Hie street at Greymouth for £2. but did not get a receipt. Accused said he was a sawmilll ham . residing'-at Blackball. He was off work for teiLdays in October with an injured leg and was staying at Greymouth. On October 2d. lie bought the cycle from a “bloke who was hard up, in Mackav Street. The man assured him the cycle was not stolen. He took it to Blackball, and it was used openly, without any alteration. Tlie S M said there was no doubt that the cycle was stolen; the question was as to who stole it. - store was certainly improbable Lookin'''"at- the whole matter, he could only come to the conclusion that accused had seen the cycle in the lane, and had stolen it. Accused was convicted and fined £2, with costs and witnesses expenses.’£2 18s 4d. and an order was made for the return oi the cycle to Goetzger.