ALLEGED THEFT

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20993, 21 December 1939, Page 14

ALLEGED THEFT

LIQUOR FROM LOCK-UP THREE MEN FOR TRIAL (Special lo Times.) TAUMARUNUI, Wednesday In the Police Court, before Messrs W. Meads and W. Thomas, J.’sP., Jim Braithwaite, Ava Vernon McMinn, and George Thomas White pleaded not guilty to charges of the theft of 109 bottles of beer, 17 bottles of whisky and one bottle of gin, valued at £2O, the property of the Government and others. Police evidence alleged that the accused filed through the Yale padlock in a cell at the lock-up and removed all the exhibits of liquor stored there from raids on November 24 and purchases made from several alleged slygrog sellers by constables from Auckland doing special duty. It was further, alleged that the accused got a taxi-driver to go with them at 3 a.m. down a right-of-way to a spot adjoining the police station, where the liquor was loaded into the luggage box. The taxi-driver drove the three accused to River Road, outside the borough, where they unloaded the liquor. Before he left the taxi-driver saw boxes on the roa.l and was able to identify them in Court. Police officers and Detective Murray recovered the empty boxes from the river side and seized 26 bottles of liquor hidden in the scrub on Braithwaite’s property, corresponding in label to the missing liquor. The three accused were committed to the Supreme Court at Hamilton for trial. Bail was allowed.