GUILTY OF RECEIVING

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 428, 9 August 1928, Page 1

GUILTY OF RECEIVING

BUILDER FINED £lO “THE SAME OLD STORY” “It is the same old story,” said Chief Detective Hammond of the explanation given by George Edwin Wheeler, a builder, aged 32, who was charged at the Police Court this morning with theft. Mr. Allan Moody, who appeared for "Wheeler, asked that the charge be reduced to one of receiving. His client had bought the tyre, tube and rim, which he was charged with stealing, from a man in Customs Street. ‘‘Wheeler has no car himself.” said Mr. Moody. “He bought the tyre because he thought it would be of use to a friend of his who owns a car of the same make as the rim. It was in the possession of this third party that the stolen goods were found. The police are unable to connect Wheeler ■*Yith the crime.” Chief Detective Hammond said that he was prepared to accept a plea of guilty on the charge of receiving. “The facts are,” he said, “that the tyre and n ®» valued at £9, the property of a customer of the Dominion Rubber Co., stolen from outside the shop doorway. The police later heard that Wheeler had been seen taking the stolen goods across the water to his home at Milford.” Mr. Moody described Wheeler’s acbon as a piece of stupidity, and not criminality. “He has since found out that the man from whom he bought the tyre and rim is out of work, while supporting a wife and five children, so he refuses to disclose his identity,” concluded counsel. .E- C. Cutton. S.M.: Have you •Bytnlng to add, Mr. Hammond? Air. Hammond: It is a case of theft rom a shop doorway. I think the 112 in Customs Street is a myth.” Wneele.r was fined £lO. An appeal °r suppression of name was not granted.