SERIES OF BURGLARIES

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 26

SERIES OF BURGLARIES

FURS AND JEWELLERY STOLEN ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE. The sequel to four daring burglaries which occurred in Dunedin between January and the beginning of the pi esent month and resulted in the loss of property of a total value of nearly £5OOO, was heard in the City Police Court on Monday of last week, when Thomas William Wilson, alias William Henry, appeared on charges of having broken and entered the premises of Messrs R. S. Black and Son, furriers, the Hudson Fur Company, Messrs Dawson and Co., jewellers, and W. J. Paterson, jeweller. • Mr H. W. Bundle was the presiding magistrate. Prioc to Wilson’s appearance on these charges, he was charged, in conjunction with Robert Saunders, with having, on the night of May 11, assaulted Walter Gabriel Rossiter, with intent to rob him. Chief Detective Cameron stated that the principal witnesses were still under medical treatment, and, on his application, a further remand until Monday, June 1, was granted. Wilson was charged with, on April 19, breaking and entering the shop of Robert Shcrriff Black, furrier, George street, and stealing 13 fur coats and a number of furs, of a total value of £450. On January 24, breaking and entering the shop of Hubert Wright, trading as Dawson and Co., jewellers, George street, and stealing a quantity of jewellery, including 86 diamond rings, 170 gem rings of various descriptions, 60 gold signet rings, seven gold watches and two gold watch chains, of a total value of £3OOO. On April 18, breaking and entering the jeweller’s shop of William James Paterson, George street, and stealing a quantity of miscellaneous jewellery, valued at'£B4l 15s. On May 9, breaking and entering the premises of the Hudson Fur Company and stealing 15 fur coats and 44 ladies’ dresses, of a total value of £5OO. WITNESSES’ EVIDENCE. . Evidence as to the value of the goods stolen was given by Hubert Wright, William James Paterson, Mary Josephine Ryan, and Gerald Black. Thomas Grundy, a labourer, stated that as he had passed Dawson and Co.’s shop on the afternoon of January 24 he saw a man in his shirt sleeves inside the window. Whilst witness was looking he saw this man remove a blue tray containing diamond rings from the window. Annie Andrews anil John Clark gave evidence along similar lines. Acting-detective Gibson stated that on examining Mr Wright's premises about 9.30 o’clock on the evening of January 24. he «found the door leading into the cellar had been forced, and that a hole 11 inches by 14 inches in area had been cut through the floor into the shop above. A search ■ revealed a screwdriver, a saw, and a brace and bit lying in the cellar. Witness stated that he had also been called to Mr Paterson’s shop on the evening of April 18, where he had found that two safes had been tampered with. One had been blown open and lying near to it were a piece of gelignite and a fragment of detonator. On May 11, witness, along with Acting-detective Turgis, had arrested the accused in connection with another offence. Later, at the detective office, the accused had made a statement in the presence of witness and Detective Sergeant Nuttall. Detective Sergeant Nuttall stated that he had, after taking a statement from the accused, shown the latter a fur coat and said that it had been recovered from a friend of his. The accused replied: " That’s right, but the friend had nothing to do with it. Leave my friend out of ' it, and I’ll come over clean.” ACCUSED’S STATEMENT. The following is the statement made to the police by the accused:' — "I am a motor mechanic and I reside in Dunedin. I was at the motor trade for four years in Australia, and was an all-round mechanic. I came to New Zealand about November, 1930. as a third-class passenger on the Maheno from Melbourne, travelling under the name of H. Williams. Since that time I have returned to Sydney once and Melbourne once, stowing away from Wellington on each occasion. I prefer not to name the boats on which I travelled. I also came back to New Zealand as a stowaway. I have registered in New Zealand under the Unemployment Act, and paid my levies, but although I have applied for work at the Labour Bureau and other places I have been unsuccessful. I could not get any work in New Zealand as I had not been here for six months, and I have found it difficult to live. CAREFULLY PLANNED BURGLARY. On the the afternoon, of Saturday. January 24, I came into town and met two men whom I had known for some time, and the three of us walked up Princes street to George street shortly after 3 p.m. We had a kit of tools consisting of a saw, brace and hit, and screw driver, to do the job, and this kit is now in possession of the police. The smallest man of the three of us was carrying the tools. When we reached Dawson and Co.’s jewellery shop, just past the Octagon, we stopped and discussed the best way to break in and steal as much jewellery as we could. This job had been discussed and surveyed for some days previously by the party. It was decided that one man should go round to the back of the shop and force an entry while the other two were to keep watch outside and give him protection while he was breaking into the shop. He went up a long right-of-way to reach the back of the shop. In the meantime I stood at the front window in the jnain street while another .man waited at the end of the line to give the alarm if anyone we were not sure about approached. The small man, after gaining access to the cellar, bored up through the floor at the back of the shop, and then made a hole sufficiently big to get into the shop. Looking through the front window I could see him in the shop, and I took my hat off to indicate that everything was all clear. “ GOOD MEN AT THEIR WORK.” “While the short man was stealing the jewellery from the front window, several

people,p.assed and looked in the window, but apparently took no notice. He had his coat and hat off, his sleeves were rolled up, and he had gloves on for the job. The bag in which he took the tools to the back of the shop was the same as he used to carry away the jewellery. He was not more than 20 minutes from the time he left the right-of-way until he returned with the jewellery. He was in the shop only about 10 minutes. It was a very easy shop to enter from the back. When the short man came back with the jewellery, he said: 'Everything is all right, I am going to take it away. You will hear from me in a day or so, and you will get some money. I saw him myself from the window of Dawson’s shop, take trays of jewellery out of the window. He did the job in a very businesslike way, and any person on the street would think that he had been at that class of work all his life, and that he was employed in the shop. The other man disappeared and kept away for about six weeks or more. He returned to Dunedin for a few days and again disappeared, and I do not know where he is now. I do not /want to mention the names of my associates in this crime, but they were both good men at their work. A HAUL OF FURS. “On the night of Sunday, April 9, I broke into R. S. Black and Co.’s fur shop in George street. I broke through a window over the back door and gained access to the shop. Once inside I tore down a curtain and wrapped in it 12 fur coats which I took from the front shop I then opened the front door and walked into George street and put them into a motor ear that was waiting for me. I had a receiver waiting for the coats and most of them are now out of the country The one shown to me at the Police Station is one of the fur coats taken by me from Black’s. I took the lining and the collar off this coat so that it could not be identified. I do not wish to say’ to whom I gave this coat, but the police have recovered it from the person to whom I gave it. There is no chance of recovering an.v more of'the coats in New Zealand as they are all out of the country. SAFE DYNAMITED. “ About 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, I climbed over some roofs of buildings from St. Andrew street and over the roof of Messrs J. R. M'Kenzie’s, and on to the roof of Paterson’s jewellery shop. I there removed a pane of glass in the skylight and then jumped down on to the staircase. I took some jewellery from the window’. I also blew two safes which w’ere under the counter. One of these I got open but I w-as short of gelignite and the second one I did not get open. From this shop I took about £BOO worth of jewellery. This jewellery has disappeared and there is no hope of its ever being recovered. SECOND FUR STORE ROBBED. “On Saturday, May 9, about 9 p.m., I went to the back of the Hudson Fur Company and kicked in a back window. I went into the shop and took a lot of fur coats from the shop and window. I also took a number of ladies’ dresses. I do not know how many fur coats I took from the shop. There may have been about 14 or 15 of them. The stolen goods were put into two sacks, a suit case and a rug. The fur coats shown to me at the detective office are the ones I took from the Hudson Fur Company. I have been shown a number of ladies’ dresses. These were stolen by me. I did this job on my own. FURS RECOVERED. Detective Power stated that on the morning of Sunday, May 17, he. in company with Inspector Cummings, Detective Sergeant Nuttall, and a civilian, went to an old iron shed on a vacant section near the Gold Band Taxi Company’s garage in Moray place, and here, under some corrugated iron, they found 11 fur coats and. some furs which were subsequently identified by the witness Black. Chief Detective Cameron gave evidence of having recovered, from a coal-house in the rear of a vacant shop near the intersection of George and London streets, the fur coats and furs which had been stolen from the Hudson Fur Company. The accused pleaded guilty to all four charges, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.