UNHEEDED

NZ Truth, Issue 1215, 14 March 1929, Page 1

UNHEEDED

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Oamaru Rep.) The curtain was rung down on a little drama, enacted on the eve of last Christmas at Friendly Bay — the miniature Lido of Oamaru — when Samson Robert Cleland appeared at the Oamaru Supreme Court the other day before Mr. Justice MacGregor for sentence on a charge of theft. TN the lower court proceedings an- ■*■ other youth and two young women were implicated, the charge against the elder of the two girls being adjourned for twelve months. The' other j two were dealt with m the Children's Court. Cleland m the lower court entered a plea of not guilty and was committed for trial. At the Supreme Court, he reversed his plea to one of guilty. Mr. A. Hamilton, on the prisoner's behalf, asked his Honor to take into consideration the fact that accused had already spent six weeks m custody. His Honor concurred with some of counsel's remarks, but the fact that he was drunk when he committed the crime hardly covered the case. If the prisoner had stolen the goods and immediately shared them out, said his Honor, he would have considered it a drunken spree. Cleland took cigarettes home. He did not share these with his companions — and hid them from the police. Twelve months' hard labor was the final verdict of the judge.