TWINS IN STOLEN CAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 480, 9 October 1928, Page 13

TWINS IN STOLEN CAR

FOURTH time in court i MAGISTRATE RESERVES DECISION For the fourth time in ten days James Russell appeared at the Police Court this morning to ansvvrr a charge relating to a car which was taken from Fort Street last Friday week. When the case was Arst heard, James Russell and his twin brother w rre each sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for converting the car to their own use. The case against James Russel! was heard again yesterday, when Mr. r. H. Hunt, S.M.. Said ho believed James Russell was an accessory after the fact. He suggested to Senior-Sergeant Cummings that the charge should bo amended. If that were done, he would fine accused £lO for being an accessory after the fact. Mr. Allan Moody, for Russell, objected to an amendment, ar.d it was agreed that the hearing should be adjourned until this morning. . When the case was reopened this morning. Mr. Moody urged that there was no such tiling as an accessory after the fact in a case of that nature. The magistrate admitted that was *o, and the hearing was continued on the original charge of converting the car. Mr. Moody considered that the evidence was not strong enough to show that accused was a party to the offence, and submitted that the offence na» complete when the car was taken, and that nothing that was said or done afterwards could be taken as evidence. The mere fact that James Russell was in the car was not evidence that he was an aider and abettor in the conversion.

Senior-Sergeant Cummings cited numerous authorities to show that Mr. Hunt could convict on the trend of the evidence without fresh information being laid. The prosecution held that the offene.e was a continued one, and that what took place after the car was actually taken was really evidence of a most important nature.

Judgment was reserved for a week and Russell was told that he would not be required to attend the court again.