Receiving charges dismissed

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 248, 28 June 1988, Page 12

Receiving charges dismissed

The following defended case was heard by Judge E. W. Unwin in the Ohakune District Court earlier this month. Police Sergeant Brett Jones of Taihape appeared for the prosecution. Duncan Vincent Metekingi, 35, unemployed shearer and Hillary Pirihita Metekingi, 31, housewife, both of Raetihi, were jointly charged with receiving a saddle valued about $700 between January 19, 1988 and March 22, 1988 knowing it to h a v e been stolen or dishonestly obtained. The first witness called by the prosecution was Mr Stuart Pearson who identified the saddle produced in court as his. He told the court that the saddle had been stolen from a car shed on the Raetihi Road on January 19. He said he was able to identify the saddle as his because of the special stirrups which he had fitted as well as other unique markings on the saddle itself. After reporting it had been stolen he had not seen the saddle again until police asked him to identify it at the end of March. The second prosecution witness was detec-tive-sergeant Harold Mallalieu of Taihape who said that, as a result of information received, he had executed a search warrant o n March 22, at a property in Ruatiti where he had

found the saddle produced in court as an exhibit. He told that court that the defendant Hillary Metekingi had come to the Raetihi police station two days later and there made a statement which was then read to the court. In the statement defendant stated that while in Wanganui earlier to attend a funeral she had visited the Aramoho Hotel and had been told that someone at the hotel was "offering a saddle for sale and was asking $600. Because she did not have that amount o f cash on her she borrowed some money from other members of the family attending the funeral and finally bought the saddle for $580 from someone whose name she was unsure of but whom she described in some detail in her statement. When she had completed her statement at the Raetihi police station the other defendant, Duncan Metekingi, was asked to explain how he came to be possession of the saddle which was found at Ruatiti. Detective sergeant Mallalieu told the court that this defendant had told him that while he and his wife were attending a funeral in Wanganui, his wife had gone to the Aramoho Hotel with other members of the family and friends. His wife had returned from the hotel at about

8pm saying that "some dude was selling a saddle at the pub" and that she had had to borrow some money to buy it because she only had $250 in her purse. According to witness, defendant then told him that after his wife had purchased the saddle it had remained in their shed (in Raetihi) for three days before he took it to Ruatiti where he kept his horse for pig-hunting. Witness told the court that he decided to prosecute the two defendants because of certain discrepancies between their statements (not detailed in this report). At the completion of detective sergeant Mallalieu's testimony defendants' counsel submitted that there was no case to answer saying that the saddle had been bought i n good faith for around its market value and the discrepancies in the two statements were evidence of each defendant's own separate version of the events in question rather than evident of the collusion between two people that might have been expected to have occurred during the two days before the finding and confiscation of the saddle and the taking of their statements. In his summing u p Judge Unwin said that there were always suspicious undertones associated with such transactions conducted in public bars of ho-

tels. However there was nothing particularly sinister in the purchase of this saddle as it had been bought quite openly with the knowledge of other people from whom the extra money had to be borrowed nor was the asking price grossly undervalued. The evidence that had been presented in court was as consistent with innocence as with guilt and the prosecution had failed to prove beyond doubt that the saddle had been acquired in a sinister or suspicious manner. For this reason the charge of receiving against both defendants was dismissed. Counsel: Jim Rota of Wanganui.