DAMAGE BY OWNER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 237, 6 October 1945, Page 6

DAMAGE BY OWNER

CAR OVER-INSURED ADMISSION OF FRAUD O.C. GISBORNE, this day. A plea of guilty was entered by Leslie Howarth, a boarding house keeper, in the Wairoa Court to a charge of unlawfully damaging his own motor car, valued at £400, with intent to defraud the United Insurance Company, thereby committing mischief. Constable King stated defendant in a statement admitted that on the evening of VJ day (August 15) Howarth decided to destroy his car, realising that it was of little value to him. He placed a bicycle on the back of the car, went to the top of Te Uhi Hill, and after pushing the car down a bank took a tin of benzine and threw the contents over the vehicle, after which he set it on fire. Defendant had had considerable drink prior to making up his mind to commit the offence. Constable Dunn said that Howarth had made a statement in which he claimed the car had been stolen from his garage,- taken to Te Uhi Hill and set alight. Graham McCormick, assessor for the United Insurance Company, gave evidence that he found on examining the car that it was insured for more than it really should have been. He valued the car at £375, which entitled defendant to have an insurance cover for £300, and he later learned that the amount of the policy was £400, being made out in the name of the Bank of New Zealand as security against an overdraft on September 16. Howarth told witness that he had made a confession to the police admitting that he had destroyed the car himself, and stating that the claim against the United Insurance Company was withdrawn. He also said he was not in debt to the bank in any way, and they would have no claim on witness.

Howarth pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court at Napier for sentence, bail being allowed. *