CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24407, 19 September 1940, Page 5

CITY POLICE COURT

Wednesday, September 18 (Before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.) Drunkenness Thomas Augustine O’Neill, who pleaded guilty to a charge of drunkenness. was fined £l. Drunk and Disorderly Stated by the prosecution to have thrown a cake of soap at an ambulance as it was travelling along the Main North road, Hearstell Thompson, aged 53, pleaded guilty to having behaved in a disorderly manner while drunk, and was fined £2. Admitted to Probation The theft of a wallet from Alexander Landreth, with whom she had been drinking in a house at Tomahawk, resulted in the appearance of Clare Alma Lee on a charge of theft. —For about two weeks prior to September 11; Sergeant Johnsen explained, the accused had been staying at Tomahawk with another woman, and the complainant visited her on the night of September 11, taking with him some liquor, which they both consumed Ho subsequently fell asleep, leaving the wallet which was the subject of the charge in the pocket of his clothes, which were hung up. When he awoke, the accused had disappeared and the wallet was missing, It was not until some days afterwards that the stolen money, with the exception of £5, was recovered from where it had been buried in a sandhill at the rear of a house occupied by some other friends of the accused. When taxed with the offence, Lee at first denied having stolen the money, but finally, she made an admission.— Mr O. G, Stevens, on behalf of the accused, submitted that she had suffered from a severe nervous attack as the result of an illness contracted about two years ago, and had taken to drink, besides forming some undesirable associations. She was. to some extent, under the influence of liquor when she committed the theft, and in the circumstances counsel asked the court to extend such leniency as was possible.—The accused was admitted to probation for two years under special conditions, restitution of the balance of the stolen money to be made within three months.