UNMASKED

NZ Truth, Issue 1214, 7 March 1929, Page 1

UNMASKED

Respectable, but Petty Thief GAOL FOR MAYO

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Timaru Rep.) Carrying on theybusiness of a watchmaker and jeweller, Gilbert Kendal Maurice Mayo had for some" years successfully effected a pose . as a respectable citizen of Timaru. He had become a. member of -the Waimataitai .School Committee and had. taken part m a number of prominent functions which .catered for the progress of the town. - , THE law revealed him to" be nothing more' than a petty rogue, sheltering behind a guise of respectability. to' better his means by paltry thieving. Guilty of the crime of bicycle stealing, Mayo was sentenced to six months' reformative detention on one charge and convicted and ordered to come' up for sentence when called on within twelve months on two others. Senior-sergeant T. Gibson, m placing the facts before Mr. C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., said that, acting on information, the police'had visited Mayo's home, and underneath, his house they had discovered quite a cartload of bicycles and parts of bicycles. "The man has never been before the court before for theft," said the senior-sergeant, "but it is *known that he is a thief. ' Mr. J. Emslie, who appeared for Mayo, made , a . plea for leniency. Mayo had proved a good husband and a good father. He was a i-espectable man who .had yielded to temptation. Counsel suggested that >a term of imprisonment would ruin Mayo, while the ends of justice would be met by a period of probation.' A request for the suppression of the accused's name was also made on the grounds that the publicity which would follow the case would place his family • under a cloud. "In view of the report of the probation officer," said the magistrate m passing sentence, "it is impossible for me to place the accused on probation. The thefts he has committed^are mean and con-, temptible. ' "From no point of view," the magistrate continued, "can I see how to make an order- for the suppression of , Mayo's name. The a man has' taken great. advantage of his position to com- j mit these thefts,' and it is rigrft that | tlje public should know. The plea of hardship being placed on his family is no grounds on which to make an order. . ' . v