LABOURER’S RUSE.
SAID HE WAS DETECTIVE. MAGISTRATE’S COMMENT. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) NAPIER, this day. Commenting that, although he had committed blackmail he was not indicted with that offence, the magistrate sentenced Edwin Charles Batt, a labourer, to two months' imprisonment for obtaining money by falsely representing that he was Detective Dunn. On the suggestion of the' magistrate, a charge of assuming the designation of a police officer was withdrawn. The police stated that the accused had been in a shop when cigarettes were purchased after hours, and had warned the shopkeeper about selling (hem. saying he was Detective Dunn, and had been connected with the Joan Rattray murder ease. Between June 10 and 16 he obtained various sums from the shopkeeper.
The defence was that the accused intended paying the money back at the end of the month, when insurance was due. Accused denied he had said he was a detective. He thought the storekeeper knew him, and did not consider e would take him for a detective. The magistrate described the case as impudent.
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Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 143, 20 June 1938, Page 8
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175LABOURER’S RUSE. Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 143, 20 June 1938, Page 8
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