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ROBBERY AT HADSPEN
Articles Stolen from Garage
Hearing at Launceston
Evidence in connection with a garage
robbery. nt.Hadspen , was heard In the
Criminal Court .ut'Launceston yesterday
before Mr.-justice Clark. .
Charley - Albert Graves appeared on
three charges, first with having .on or
about Juno Iii,,1930, broken and entered
a garage owned by Henry John Knott
with Intent to steal,, second with having
stolen a number ot motor, accessories
valued at £11 Ss., and'third'.with having
between'June 12 and October 3, 1930. re-
ceived thc articles knowing them to have
been stolen..
.Tho Solicitor-General (Mr. .P. L.. Grif-
fiths) represented the.,Crown, and Hon.
Tas. Shields appeared, for accused.
The following Jury, was empanelled:-¡
Gerald Joseph Doolan (foreman), Elbert
James Atkinson, Andrew Brooks. Fran-
cis Kelly, Stanley Wellington, Arthur
Norton, George Allan Craw, William
John Thomas Baxter, Herbert George
Howe, James Dobie. Sanford William
Wnllbridge, Horace Young. .
Henry john Knott, orchardlst, of
Hadspen, stated that a set of colls, a
tyre tube'and rim, a battery.-two pairs
of pliers, a plug wrench, two .box span-
ners, nn electric light globe, a tyre cover,
valve seater, "and quantity of oil had been
taken 'from his garage about tho. date
mentioned. The. articles': were valued
approximately at £12. He Identified the
battery, coils, tyre cover and tyre (pro-
duced) os those will ch had been taken
from his garage. Tools (produced).wore
similar to those he had missed.
'Detective T. G. Burke said that with
Detective-Sergeant W. S. .C. Brown he
had visited accused's promises In Upton
Street on October 2 and found tho bat-
tery and colls and a number of tools in
a sugar bag, which accused afterwards
claimed -as his property. Witness then
went to Mt. Pleasant 'and interviewed
accused, telling him that they suspected
the articles to have been Btolen. Accused
said-he had found the battery at an
empty house In Babbington Street and
that, the coll had been in. the house since
ho had been there, more than two years.
; TO-Mr. Shields: Accused claimed part
of the-tools iri.the saofeas his, and said
tho "remainder belonged to a friend
named Usherv Among those said to .be-
long to Usher were the tools which
Knott claimed as his. Witness could not
say Avlth- certalnty whether a Hst was
made of the tools claimed by accused.
.Leonard Raymond Usher said that the
tools mentioned in tho case were not his
property.
To Mr. Shields: He had never claimed
that tho tools were his property.
Colin Charles Luttrell, warehouse
salesman for the Barnet Glass Rubber
Co., gave details of the sale of tyres to
a Mr. Lefevre. The number of ono of
J the tyres corresponded with that of one
I of the tyres produced in court.
Joseph Lefevre,'farmer, of Pyengana,
said that . after buying the tyres he
traded the car on which they had been
fitted to Motors Pty. Ltd. "
Archibald James Manning, car sales-
man, employed by Motors Pty.'Ltd., said
that the car traded In by Mr. Lefevre
later had been sold to Mr. Knott.
Evidence was also given by Stephen
Spurling and James Reginald Howard.
The Defence.
Accused said he had bought a car In
May last year, but could not drive lt.
Usher used the car more than he did,
and when witness went away Usher
always drove. He made a false state-
ment to. Detective Burke about the tools
because the last-named said he suspected
they ' had been stolen, and he (wit-
ness) did not know how Usher had come
Into possession of. them. Witness was
present when Usher and a man named
Colgrave were doing some repairs to the
car.' Colgrave made a reference to; the
quality of the tools, which were similar
to those produced In court, and proposed
to witness that he might buy some of
them. Usher, however, interrupted, and
said "You can't buy them,. boy,' they
I belong to me."
Joshua Colgrave corroborated tho evi-
dence of accused with regard to the Inci-
dent which occurred when repairs-were
being done to the car. He stated also
that when they finished work Usher
packed up the tools, in a sugar bag arfd
took them away.
j j Henry Mclnulty, blacksmith, gave
j evidence of having overheard Usher say
that tho tools belonged to him.
This-closed the evidence for tho de-
fence and the case was adjourned until
10 o'clock this morning.
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