LED ASTRAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 645, 23 April 1929, Page 11

LED ASTRAY

YOUTH GIVEN CHANCE ASSOCIATES GAOLED The story of how a man who lived alone in a bach in Devonport had persuaded an unsophisticated youth half his age to embark on a life of crime was told in the Police Court this morning, when John Francis McCarthy and Ernest Dowell were each sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

McCarthy, a labourer aged 37, Dowell, a hawker aged 32, and Cyril Steven Mutch, a farmhand aged ID, were charged with stealing eleven bars of lead valued at £l6 10s from the Auckland Gas Company. Mr. Smythe entered a plea of guilty for Mutch, and Mr. W. Noble admitted the offence on behalf of Dowell. McCarthy decided not to plead, and elected to be dealt with by the Supreme Court. Later, however, he changed his mind and was dealt with this morning, pleading guilty. Sub-Inspector McCarthy considered that Mutch had been led away by McCarthy. The youth, who had been a ward of the State for seven years, was not strong mentally. He had recently come down from Whangarei almost penniless, and McCarthy had given him a bed at his Devonport bach. He had been put up to removing the stolen lead by the older man. Mr. W. J. Campbell, Probation Officer, said that he had a position for Mutch to go to, and suggested that he be admitted to probation. Mr. Smythe corroborated all that the sub-inspector had said, and reminded the Court that Mutch should not be judged by the same standards as the average boy, as he had been differently brought up. Mutch was admitted to probation for three years. Dowell, according to the sub-inspec-tor, had carried the stolen lead across the harbour in his cart. He was a hawker. Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.: Yes, I have seen him here before. The sub-inspector said that Dowell had been helped to load the stolen lead by Mutch, who was thus an accessory after the fact. Before passing sentence, Mr. Hunt remarked that there was no chance of probation for Dowell, whose list forbade it.