A CONVERTED CAR

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1931, Page 3

A CONVERTED CAR

. ■ .... .... SUBSTANTIAL FINK IMPOSED. WELLINGTON. April 21. Difficulty in starting a car at Brooklyn on Saturday night resulted in. the intervention of a const, abl,. anti the arrest of the driver, J nines Butler Kelly, a panel-beater, aged 23. who was charged before Mr W. H. Woodward, S. M., at tlie Magistrate’s Court yesterday with converting a ear taint'd at £75 to his own use. Evidence showed that the accused had been drinking with sailors earlier in the evening, and when he wu« arrested at Brooklyn at 11.30 p.m. he still smelt of liquor. In .imposing a line of £lO. the Magistrate remarked that the accused might consider himself very lucky not to have rendered bims<>]f liable for driving when intoxicated.

TRAM HELP UP. Sub-Inspector Lopdell said U the accused was arrested on Saturday night he had two sailors and two women in the car. He was having difficulty in starting fin car. and was holding'll]) a tram. When a constable went to see what was tho trouble he recognised the car as one that had been reported missing earlier in the evening. He also noticed Hint Hie number plates had been painted over, and that the accuse;! low l m*' l ' 1 *' although he was not sufficiently under its influence to, bo arrested oil ‘ ,,- ’t charge. The circumstances indicated that when he had taken the car he was under the influence of liquor. '1 lie car was damaged to th.-* extent ot £f ll s Gd, and had evidently been in a collision.

Mr A. -I. Miizetigarb, who appeared for Kelly, said that the accused, who was a married man with one child, had committed no previous oflence whatever. He had been employed by a Wellington firm of motor bodv builders for the last six months, and before that he had been working at Dannevirke.

On Saturday afternoon, said AH' Mazengarb, the accused attended football practice, and afterwards w ait to a hotel, where he became involved in a drinking bout with some sailors. The drinking went on until 8 p.m., when the accused picked up the car. He was not the only oti e concerned in the matter, as one of the sailors had driven the car to a part'- i n Brooklyn, The- accused knew nothin'/ of the collision or the obliteration ol the number plates. CAUSE OF DOWNFALL.

“Tlie young man is worthy of a chance, and the damage would be made good by him,” continued counsel. “It is/ apparent that the indulgence in liquor on Saturday nightlias led to his downfall.”

Mr Ma/.engarb suggested* that the accused might be admitted to probation on condition that he made good the damage and took out a prohibition order against himself. Mr Woodward: “I don’t think (bis is a ease for probation. I don’t intend to inflict a term of imprisonment, but it is a case for a substantial fine.’’ The accused, who consented to a prohibition order being made out against himself, was ordered to pay the '£lo fine at the rate of £2 per week and make the necessary repairs to the ear.