Patea R.M. Court.

Patea Mail, 2 September 1881, Page 3

Patea R.M. Court.

THIS DAY. Before Mr C. A. Wray, R.M. SEVEN ROBBERIES. A Scandinavian named Peter Jansen; married, occupying a cottage in Patea behind Mr M‘Carthy’s house, was charged with seven larcenies in and near Patea. F. Mullen said : About a month ago I missed a zinc bath, now produced. It must must have been taken in the night. Prisoner said : I bought the bath from Petersen. C. W. Petersen said : I lived with the prisoner till a fortnight ago, when the police came there searching. I saw the zinc bath in his house. I came with the prisoner from Wellington, among the mjemploy’ed. I did not see that bath in his possession at that time. Constable Crozier said the prisoner told him he brought the bath from Wellington. Then the prisoner said he bought it from Peterson. Prisoner was charged with stealing a metal boiler from Kakaramea, the property of Mr P. Murphy. P. Murphy said : I missed the boiler on the 4th August. It must have been taken at night. The boiler produced is the same. Constable Crozier said he found the boiler at the prisoner’s house, and found the cover buried under the floor of a lean-to, with other buried articles. Prisoner told him he bought the boiler from Peterson, but it had no lid. The constable found a chest of tea, a spittoon, and other articles buried under the floor. Petersen said he never sold such a boiler to prisoner. Prisoner was then charged with stealing, on the 27th August, two dresses, stockings, and a pair of stays, the property of George Genic.

Mrs Genie identified articles produced, and said they were missed from a clothesline. A neighbor missed a number of articles the same night. Prisoner said he must have picked up the stockings and taken them home, as his wife found them in his pocket. Magistrate : Do you generally pick up things on your way home ? Prisoner : If I see anything lying about in the street, I pick them up. Prisoner was also charged with stealing several pairs of boots, in July, from Mr J. Rhodes’s shop. J. Rhodes identified two pairs of boots produced. Had lost four pairs one evening: Petersen first said, when Jansen’s house was seached, that he bought one pair of the boots in Wellington. Then he said he bought them from the prisoner. Another pair was found in prisoner’s box. A child’s pair was much too large for prisoner’s children. Petersen said he bought one pair from the prisoner, who met him in the street. Prisoner was also charged with stealing two boxes of tea, a bag of rice, and other articles, from a waggon driven by A. McKillock, at Kakaramea. M’Killock identified articles produced, and said he missed them from his waggon while stopping all night at Kakaramea, his laden waggon being left on the roadside. Prisoner said he bought the tea from Petersen. James O’Sullivan, hotel keeper, said he saw the prisoner at his house at ten o’clock on the night that the articles were stolen from the waggon. Heard his voice outside half an hour after closing the door. Prisoner was also charged with stealing a bridle, the property of C. W. Marshall, at Kakaramea. Marshall identified the bridle produced. W. Ewing, a school-boy, said he found the bridle produced and a box of tea in a

flax-bush, 100 yards from flic part whore

the prisoner lived. Sergeant Donovan said various larcenies being reported to him, and suspicion being directed to the prisoner, ho searched the house twice. Prisoner seemed quite indignant that the police should come there. Found various missing articles on the promishs, and found a box of tea buried under the ground ; a spittoon, and butter-dish cover ; also several heads of fowls wore buried, as if newly wrung off and concealed. The whole place seemed to he a den of thieving and concealment, from the appearance of various things about the premises. Had received communications from Wellington that the prisoner is an old convicted thief. Petersen said he did not know the prisoner till meeting him on tho steamer coming from Wellington. They agreed to rent and occupy' the same house. Left the house on seeing the police searching for stolen property. Prisoner, on being asked to produce evidence to show how ho came by tho articles, said he had no witnesses. Sergeant pointed out that an oilcloth coat which was buried along with the articles, had belonged to the witness Petersen ; so that tho articles must have been buried since the prisoner occupied the house. Magistrate found him guilty, and said he was a dangerous person. Convicted on seven charges, and sentenced to one calender month’s hard labor on each charge the terms to follow each other, making seven months in all. Prisoner : How can I help Magistrate : That will do. Police removed the prisoner, who will be sent to Wanganui gaol. VALUELESS CHEQUES. George Tullery, alias George Laraot, alias George Larnot Tullery, a Frenchman of small stature, was charged with issuing a valueless cheque for £3O and thereby obtaining money and value under false pretences. From the evidence of Mr Mullen, it appeared the prisoner stopped at the Masonic Hotel, and tendered a cheque for £3O on the Bank of N.Z. at New Plymouth, receiving in change 12s and running up a score on the book. The cheque was found to be valueless. Prisoner professed to have got it for working at Inglewood for a bridge contractor named George Lamot. The prisoner’s handwriting was found to be similar to that on the chequeA clerk from the bank at New Plymouth said no account corresponding to the cheque or the prisoner’s statement had been left there for at least a year. A similar reply had been received from the bank at Wellington.

The prisoner was committed for trial at the Supreme Court, New Pl3'mouth.

There is a similar charge against him for changing a cheque for £SO at Inglewood. This case will be taken to New Pl3'inouth.