4 charged with unlawful assembly

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 57, 18 July 1974, Page 3

4 charged with unlawful assembly

: Four youths appeared in the Taupo Children's Court on Tuesday charged with unlawful assembly as a

result of a disturbance outside a Taupo food bar on Saturday night. The boys also faced charges of wilful damage and assault. The Magistrate, Mr P. J. Trapski, adjourned the case without taking pleas until July 30 and advised the parents of the youths to seek legal advice. "This unlawful assembly charge is a pretty serious sort of a thing," he said. The defendants were released in their parents' custody and ordered to report to a social welfare officer next Tuesday. Among other charges heard in the Children's Court were three of unlawfully smoking cannabis in Taupo in May. A 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl were both discharged without conviction, and a third girl, also

16, was placed under social welfare supervision until her 17th birthday. * * * In the Taupo Magistrate's Court a 54-year-old single man had his name suppressed after he pleaded guilty to four charges of false pretences, involving a total of $64.47. Senior-Sergeant R. Moncur said the charges arose from defendant's stay in an Auckland hotel earlier this year. Between April 29 and May 6, he had successfully cashed four cheques, knowing that his cheque account in Wellington was overdrawn. He told police he had been under severe stress over domestic and other matters. For the defendant, Mr D. W. Stephens said his - client was "a person who is a little muddled." He had thought that the bank would honour his cheques, having previously arranged a $40 overdraft to tide him over. The overdraft arrangement had been made in January, the Court was told. The defendant was fined $40 and $5 costs on each of the four charges and ordered to pay $64.47 restitution. He was placed on probation for a year, with the conditions that he live and work where directed and place his finances under the probation officer' s control. * * * ' "I think you are a prize candidate for detention centre," Mr Trapski told Raymond Morgan Rehu, 17, bushman, when sentencing him on four driving charges. "The probation officer says you are spoilt, a show-off, and do not pick the right mates, yet you are a good fellow. 1 think that is what detention centre is meant for. "Y6u will have it hanging over you as the next step if you don't behave." On a charge of driving with a blood alcohol level of 124, Rehu was fined $100, Court costs $5, medical expenses $15, and disqualified for six months. For dangerous driving he was fined $75 and costs, and on each of two charges of careless driving, $25 and costs. On the first two charges, Rehu was released on probation' for 18 months and ordered to take a defensive driving course. He was represented by Mr D. W. Stephens. * * * A young Single man who admitted indecently exposing himself to two schoolgirls on Tongariro Street on July 6 was fined $100 and Court costs $5. Alistair Muir, 23, single, mill foreman, was . represented by Mr. D. W. Stephens, who said the defendant had been so

shattered by what he had done that he took to his bed for two days. * * * A charge of driving with excess blood alcohol content against Toby Rameka, 39, builder, was dismissed by the Magistrate on the grounds of insufficient evidence from the prosecution. Rameka, who was represented by Mr C. Royfee, pleaded not guilty to driving at Waipahihi on or about April 21 with 266 milligrammes of alcohol to 100 millilitres of blood. He was convicted on a charge of careless use of a motor vehicle on the same date and "fined $150, Court costs $5. On a further charge of careless use of a motor vehicle, in Taupo on May 19, Rameka was fined $50 and costs. In both cases, he was ordered to undergo a defensive driving course. Senior-Sergeant Moncur said the careless use charges both resulted from collisions with parked cars. A ifc *

Thomas Crawford, 31, motor mechanic, of Turangi, was fined $25, Court costs $5, and ordered to undergo a defensive driving course when he pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a truck with a load so unsafely secured as to cause injury to any person. Senior-Sergeant Moncur .said Crawford was testing a truck with an articulated trailer attached for brake efficiency when two steel blocks — one weighing a ton and the other half a ton — fell off. The blocks fell into the path of another car, causing it to roll over. He said the accident happened at Turangi on May 24. * * * Failing to report an accident cost Thomas Te Karu, 36, married, plant operator, of Turangi, $100 and $5 costs when he pleaded guilty to the charge. He was also disqualified from driving for six months. The defendant also admitted a charge of careless use of a motor vehicle and was fined $30 and costs. The charges arose from an incident outside a Turangi food bar on May 16 at 10 p.m., when Te Karu reversed into a parked car. He told police he had not reported the accident because he was drunk at the time and got scared. * * * Failing to yield right of way cost Gary Chisholm $65 and George Henry Brown, of Auckland $10. Both were ordered to take a defensive driving course. Court costs of $5 were additional to each fine.