McWATTERS BURGLARY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4741, 22 August 1924, Page 3

McWATTERS BURGLARY.

COURT DELIVERS SENTENCE. SIX MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT. At the Auckland Supreme Court on Wednesday John Graham and William Gratton Robinson, concerned in the recent Paeroa burglary, came before Mr Justice Stringer for sentence. John Graham, a man of middle age, admitted having entered the business premises of Mr D. McWatters at Paeroa on July 17 and stolen goods when he was passing through on a quest for work, having tried in Waihi and Morrinsville for employment. In the course of a statement the prisoner made a point of off-setting the fact that he had been in trouble previously by stating that it had been fourteen years ago, and since then he had practically demonstrated his intention to keep straight by returning to the owner a purse containing £BO he had picked up on the street. The story of the returned purse was corroborated by the Crown Prosecutor, Mr V. R. Meredith, and his Honour said it was evident that the man had tried to keep honest, despite a previous lapse. In consideration of that, the sentence would be made less than it otherwise would have been. The prisoner was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. William Gratton Robinson, a mid-dle-aged man, who had accompanied Graham on part of his journey in the search for work, and had accepted a present of a suit of clothes which was part of the proceeds of the burglary, was sentenced to six months’ hard labour for receiving stolen goods.