"OH! MY CHILDREN"

NZ Truth, Issue 1205, 3 January 1929, Page 6

"OH! MY CHILDREN"

Piteous Outburst In Court By Woman ShopJifter

SISTERS' EXTENSIVE THEFTS

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative)

"Oh! My Children! My Children!" y With this impassioned outburst, Anita Ester Wilson, a young, good looking married woman of Cashel Street, and convicted shop-lifter, swooned m the dock m the Christchurch Police Court when the fateful words of Magistrate' E. D. Mosley decreed that she must spend Christmas m gaol.

HER. elder sister, Annie Celina Korte- and Co., Ltd., T. Armstrong and. Co ; , gast, a married woman, of Buck- Whitcombe and Tombs and the N.Z. ley's Road, was also charged and Faz-mers' Co-op. Association. . t pleaded guilty, and the two presented Both women adopted a humbly a piteous scene as the elder sister, as- penitent air: while Lawyer A. A. Insisted by the police matron, attempted Lachlan pleaded for leniency, valiantly to retain her composure and He told the court that the younger comfort her distressed relative. woman, Wilson, had two young child.- - Early success at shop-lifting en- ren, was an expectant mother, and had couraged the two women to extend recently had a serious operation which their operations. had gravely prejudiced her health. They commenced their dishonesty at Magistrate Mosley openly expressed the opening of the winter sales last his suspicion that other offences had July, and their efforts were crowned been committed seeing that the women with such « success that they had been so , long engaged at their proceeded headlong into more exten- nefarious work, sive thefts regardless of the cost What' to do with the women, in.view

they would have to pay should they be found out. They invariably worked together, one keeping a watch while the other carried out the pilfering. Apparently they had a fancy for the big ger business houses, with their well-equipped display stands, for all the goods recovered were taken from the largest firms m the city. When, they were detained by the police they both pleaded guilty to a series of thefts extending over six months, but little light was thrown on their method of working. The husbands of both women are m steady emploj r ment. Wilson earning £4 and X ortegas t £4/10/- a week, while the two accused come from a very respectable southern family, the head of which was a lay reader and was credited by Chief-detective Carroll, who had known him personally, with, giving his children a good start m life. The downfall of the two sisters, and the termination of their sytsematic policy of thieving, was brought about by a shop assistant m Beath/ and Coi, Ltd., who reported their depredations. The proceeds of that p articu lar day's work amounted m value to over £9. A search of the women's homes revealed, further goods .which they admitted they ■ had stolen. T he courtroom was crowded when the two' women, were called to answer five charges of stealing ' goods to the total value of. £46 from Beath

of counsels state--11 ment regarding the younger accused's health, created a difficult problem, so he remanded them till the following morning. When they ap-, peared next day for sentence, the younger woman bore signs of the ordeal she had experienced during a night spent m the cells. She collapsed and ci'iei. hysterically whon the magistrate announced i hat he could not see his way clear- to grant probation. With the grim shadow of prison walls hovering about her, and the dismal prospect of •being separat ed from her children over the festive season, she completely broke down and wailed piteously while her elder sister stoically bore her load of shame and tried to soothe the young woman m her distress. "This has been a system of deliberate thieving, and I have come to the conclusion that the younger woman is the principal offend c i*," commented the magistrate, m sentencing her to three weeks' imprisonment wi th hard labor. The elder woman was convicted and imprisoned for two weeks. "I .recognize that f the sentence is inadequate for the offences, but' the publicity is the greater punishment," he added. • A distre ssihg g scene followed m 3 .which the young i wo ma n, ' sobbing t loudly about her 1 children, had to be '•assisted from • the . dock by the police U matron and two orderlies.