OHAKUNE DISTRICT COURT

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 592, 27 June 1995, Page 8

OHAKUNE DISTRICT COURT

The following cases were heard by Judge Lynton Laing in the Ohakune District Court on Thursday 15 June. Police-sergeant Bob Evans of Ohakune appeared for the prosecution.

Possession of pipe William Te Hore, 41, shearer of Raetihi was convicted and fined $ 1 50, court costs $95, after pleading guilty to possession of a pipe for the purpose of using a prohibited drug on 8 June. In custody Hariboy Hetaraka, 23, unemployed of no fixed address, was remanded in custody to appear in the Wanganui District Court on 27 June to answer several charges including burglary (two), theft (three), posses-

sion of cannabis, and using a document to obtain credit (four). The remand to Wanganui was to obtain a psychiatric report from Good Health W anganui before hi s appearance in Court. Remand Bevan Lee Stoneman, 29, garden worker of Karioi, presently residing in Wanganui, was to have appeared for a defended hearing on a charge of assaulting William Leslie Hart on 10 May. However, when he appeared last Thursday he changed his plea to guilty.

He was remanded to appear for sentence in the Wanganui District Court on 5 July. Remand Michael Manihera, 20, unemployed of Ohakune pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully taking a vehicle but entered no pleas to charges of burglary since the relevant flies were not yet in the hands of the prosecution. Judge Laing decided that all matters should be remanded to next month's hearing on 1 3 July by which time police should have the necessary documentation to prosecute the case together with a probation officer's

report and assessment of the defendant's ability to pay the $2000 fines still outstanding. Date error delay Joseph Hohepa Mallinson, 26, unemployed of Ohakune, was to have defended a charge of breaking and entering an unoccupied dwelling in Ohakune on a date between 4 January and 1 0 January this year after earlier pleading not guilty. However he changed his plea to guilty last Thursday after being identified by fingerprints but said that he was responsible for only the burglary of some boots in a bag he took from the house in Arawa Street, Ohakune, after finding one of the windows open. Other property stolen may, according to counsel Paul Brown, have been taken by other offenders who might have noticed the house with the open window was unoccupied. At this point Judge Laing noticed an error in the date of the sworn statement and

adj oumed the case unti 1 next month to check the date and to see if the error can be corrected to allow the case to proceed. Name suppression A 31-year-old Ohakune woman was convicted of assaulting a three-year-old child on 31 March and remanded to 13 July for a probation officers report and sentence. She had pleaded guilty to charges of striking the child about the bottom, legs and back with a cricket bat as well as admitting she had hit her other children, aged 9 and 12, with a variety of implements as she was overcome with the stresses of having to deal with problems at home. She acknowledged that she needed help and was now being supported by her whanau and receiving counselling. In the meantime the children had been removed from the defendants' home. She was remanded to 13 July for a probation officer's report and a pre-sen-tence report.