ALLEGES THEFT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2431, 20 February 1909, Page 6

ALLEGES THEFT.

AX ADJOURNMENT GRANTED

At the Magistrate’s Court -yesterday. a man named Norman McLeod 'was charged with having, on January 16th stolen, a horse, saddle and •iridle to the value of £9 10s, tlio property of John Rutherford Shaw, of Pakarae.

.Sergt. Hutton conducted the prosecution and Mr T. Alston Coleman appeared for the accused. j John Rutherford Shaw, hotelkeeper, , if Pakarae, said that the accused was . staying at his hotel on January 26th. ! Dn that day accused asked him for the oan of a horse, saddle and bridle, to . •jo to Poutae, and said that lie would t hire it. Witness asked him when lie 1 .vas coming back and accused replied “to-morrow.” Ho then told accused that the charge would be 5s and thatamount was paid to witness, who instructed his groom to give accused ; the horse. Accused did not return lie following day. The saddle (proluced) was his property, but lio could not positively identify the bridle. He rallied the saddle at £4 10s. Ho saw his horse later on at the Albion stables, and the value ho put on it was £4 10s. He did not authorise accused to dispose of the horse, saddle, ir bridle. , ' To Air Coleman: He thought it was x Monday on which accused got the horse, hut he did not get the horse on the day he arrived. Ho could not jay what time accused arrived at his hotel, and the night before he hired the horse accused paid him a little over £1 for hoard, which ho had advanced to him when going up the Coast a few months previously. Accused told him that he had sold Ins horse, saddle and bridle to a man at Poutae station. Ho was fairly sober when he arrived at witness’ hotel, and was in the same condition when he left the following day. Accused was supplied with drinks on lus arrival and prior to his departure. When accused paid him he had bank notes and coins in his hand, hut he could not say to what amount. To Sergt. Hutton : Accused did not say whoso horse he had sold at Poutae. . . ■Xoseph Francis, livery stable proprietor of Gisborne, said that accused ''ame to the Albion stables on January 26th and on the. next morning asked witness to buy the horse, which had been put in the stable overnight. Accused said he was going away by the boat, and witness offered £1 for tlie horse, which accused accepted and for which he gave a receipt (produced). There was no saddle and bridle on the horse when he bought it from accused. He took accused to the te- . lephone at the Albion Hotel, and ac- . cased rang up Mr Shaw of Pakarae, i and said that he had sent Mr Shav s j horse home from Tatapouri. ! To Air Coleman : He considered that he had given accused a fair price for the horse. It was a bay pony gelding ( with the tops of its ears cut off. i Thomas Lougher, drover, said tint on January 25th, a Monday, accused offered to sell him a horse, saddle and bridle at Tatapouri on the road to Gisborne. Witness offered him £1 for , the saddle, and accused accepted the ; offer, witness, to get possession of the ( saddle upon their arrival in Gisborne. The saddle produced in Court was tho s one he bought, and he saw the horse i ’ater on at the. Albion stables. ! 'To Air Coleman: He gave for the _ saddle what if was worth to lum. He ; saw accused at Pakarae two days be- j fore he bought the saddle, qut he did-j not see him arrive. He ivas in conversation with accused that night and j accused told him that lie had come from Takapau that day, a distance or 50 or 60 miles. He had a drink with accused at the Pakarae.hotel, and accased was (jnite softer and sensible. James Porter, clerk at the Albion Hotel, gave evidence of tho last witness having spoken to Mr Shaw of the Pakarae Hotel on January 26th. Subsequently Lougher brought accused, to the telephone. Accused took the receiver and said, “I have sent your horse hack from Tatapouri. The horse [ sold is my own. Do you think 1 would come at that?” To Air Coleman : AVlien accused was speaking at the telephone he appeared to he perfectly sober'. This closed the case for the prosecution and accused, in answer to the usual question, said: “1 have not.img to say, hut would like to call eviMr Coleman said that he had one witness, a shepherd at Poutae station, but there was some doubt as to whether the summons had been served. An adjournment of the case was oranted until next Friday, bail being allowed, accused in £SO and two sureties in £25 each.