MODERN OLIVER TWIST

NZ Truth, Issue 1216, 21 March 1929, Page 2

MODERN OLIVER TWIST

Boy s Aunt Leads Him Into Crime For Her Own Profit SIX MONmsH^ (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative).' An: amazing story of a»boy 's duplicity while engaging on: a career of serious crime under the direction of his aunt, was disclosed m Christchurch , a few days go, when Elsie Martha Dennis Wright, a young married woman, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labor.

THE wbirfan - lived m Ferry Road, and . from her establishment she supervised the operations of ..her youthful dupe, whose activities m some instances would have done credit to an experienced cracksman. ..■;■ Hers was the master mind which planned the youth's excursions into the field- of crime, selecting likely places for him, to break .into, suggesting the methods on which he should work, and

directing him m the practice of his nefarious work. Not satisfied with' the life of dishonesty which she had induced her nephew to follow, the woman went so far as to lend him the assistance of her own son, a boy about twelve years of age, but her avaricious ' nature was her downfall. » At her base m Ferry' Road she received the woducts of the boy's thieving, and under an assumed name she

pawned the major quantity \of the goods which amounted m value to just under £ 100. The nephew, \vhb_e name was suppressed under the "provisions of the Children's Court, was responsible for many audacious crimes committed m broad daylight. The. breaking into a house while the tenants were m occupation was nothing to him, and several of his thefts were .earned put m this manner. On. one occasion he broke into a house m the afternoon while the occupant was harnessing up a horse m the yard. , The man returned to the house to change his- clothes before leav- .. ing, and the boy hid beneath the v bed while the man moved about the room, disrobing and getting ,into fresh attire. He then left, and locked up the place, leaving the young burglar free access Abandoned Youth to everything m the building, and his freedom so soon as he chose to take it. The young criminal did not confine his attentions to the suburbs immediately surrounding the home of his aunt, but went so far afield as New Brighton and South Brighton. He paid' particular attention to articles which were e;isily pawned, and his loot included watches and jewellery, drapery, linen and clothing. The bulk of. the stolen property was recovered. '■ ' The boy^was charged on eighteen counts with breaking, entering, theft and mischief, while the woman Wright, aged 32, and describing herself as a domestic, was . charged en five counts with receiving stolen property. The boy's parents, ' it . was stated, lived m complete ignorance of the •double life he was leading.

He left home each morning ostensibly to. go to work, and returned about 6 o'clock m the evening, having been, so far as his parents were aware, at work all day. . Their suspicions ,were never aroused, for each week-end he would pay his mother ten shillings, alleged to be his wages but actually his remuneration from his aunt for his unlawful: opera-tions-on her behalf. \

Wright was convicted and imprisoned for six months, Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., castigating her severely for her activities which made her a danger to the community. Though the Child Welfare Act prohibits the publication of the name of adults involved m crime with juveniles, the magistrate granted permission for Wright's name to be published.