WARNING TO JOY-RIDERS

NZ Truth, Issue 1262, 6 February 1930, Page 2

WARNING TO JOY- RIDERS

Detective's Strong Comment On Conduct of Girls

NO HESITATION TO ARREST

(From "N-.Z. Truth's" Gisborne Representative.) ittiri it it itti tiififiirit iiitttiiif itf tit f it ftiittit f iirttiiriiirtiiTf ttiirittiiiritiMiitt nit tiiif rtiiiiff iiiiirf iifiif iiit ttiiifinrttiif it inif iiiiiiiiitituf iiirmitiiiiiii^ 5 • . = | The principal motive underlying thefts of motor- | I cars, according to Detective McLeod, of Gdsborne, is 1 | the desire of young girls to be taken for joy-rides. 1 | " There are many girls, " he said m court recently, | | "who are m the habit of joy-riding with men, and the 1 | worst offenders of all are young half-caste girls." - 1

'"THE occasion for the remarks was 1 the prosecution of Kere Bparaima, a young woman of 20, who had been arrested after an exciting chase, by car and on foot, and charged with the theft tof a motor-car valued at £100. Eparaima maintained that she had gone for a ride with the driver of the car — who escaped when ultimately overtaken by the police — and that she did not know the car was not his property. Detective McL<eod' told the court that the car had been parked m town and was missed by the owner at about 10.30 p.m. When the matter -was reported to the police a search was instituted, and at Smidnlght the missing car was observed on a back road leading, to the country. ' Seeing that he was observed, the driver of the borrowed car speeded up, and four miles had been covered at a break-neck pace before the police car finally took the Uad and headed off the other vehicle. The car was then driven into a fence, and the driver escaped. The girl, after running a short distance, was arrested. ATTENDED DANCE Mr. S. Beaufpy, who appeared for the girl* ridiculed the .suggestion that she could be convicted. She had attended a dance and subsequently accepted. an invitation to go for a joy-ridei She had no idea that the car was stolen, and had acted m entire innocence. If the law were privileged to operate as suggested by thfe prosecution, then it would be unsafe for anyone to get into a car under similar circumstances.. Evidence m 'support of counsel's statement was given by the girl, who said she was unable to drive a car and had never held a license. She admitted that she had known the man for some months and that 'he. had been m the habit of visiting her

at week-ends, but she did not know where he could be found.

It was correct, she said, that she had gone out joy-riding with another man. Mr. Beaufoy: You are only 20 years of age? — Yes. And that night you were locked up m prison?— -Yes. Detective McLeod: I'll arrest any other girls I find m the same circumstances; The magistrate, Mr. P. H. Harper, S.M., said that while it appeared probable that the girl knew the car to have been converted by her companion, there was a doubt, and she must receive the benefit of it. He trusted that the case would serve as a warning to girls not to indulge m promiscuous joj^-riding.