COUNSEL INDIGNANT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 542, 20 December 1928, Page 17

COUNSEL INDIGNANT

QUESTION OF IDENTITY THEFT OF ROLLS OF SERGE Searching questions about the manner in which identification parades were conducted by the police marked the hearing of evidence against Bertie John Christian and Kenneth Malcolm McDonald at the Police Court this morning. Christian, a grocer, aged. 27. and McDonald, a labourer, aged 42, were charged with stealing serge valued at £57 from John Robinson's warehouse in Wellesley Street. Elaine Gordon Biert remembered the two men coming to her house shortly after the robbery. They had asked her whether she wanted some material, ana arter she said she would have a look at it, they brought her the serge (produced) on the following morning. She paid the men £ 3 or £ 4 for the bolt. In reply to Mr. Fennell, who appeared for McDonald, witness said that she had given the money to Christian. Mr. J. J. Sullivan. for Christian, examined the witness at some length on the circumstances surrounding her appearance at an identification parade where she had seen Christian again. “It is not fair,” complained Mrs. Biert, after being subjected to a particularly strong volley from counsel. “I understood that if I came here I would be asked only a few questions by Mr. Hammond.” Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.: Did the police say anything to you before the identification parade about the man you were going to see? Witness: No. Mr. Sullivan said that he objected to the magistrate "burlesquing” his questions, and added that he would save them for another court. Other witnesses supported the storytold by Mrs." Biert and were closely questioned by counsel. Both men pleaded not guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court for trial.

Counsel for each accused asked for bail, which was refused. “Christian was out on bail when found with this Stolen property,” explained the magistrate. "There has been too much of this thieving of cloth and I am not going to give McDonald bail, either.”