W. A HOPKINS SENTENCED.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17291, 1 November 1921, Page 5

W. A HOPKINS SENTENCED.

FOUR YEARS* IMPRISONMENT. The* climax of the Hopkins Bankruptcy occurred at the Supreme Court yesterday morning, when William Allan Hopkins was brought up for sentence on two charges of theft and two of failing to account for moneys. Hopkins hjid, in the Loweit Court, pleaded guilty to the charges, which involved amounts of £BOB os, £350, £3OO, and £2OO, respectively. Prisoner, though very bronzed aboutHhe face, had aged very considerably since the days before his bankruptcy, and, bent in body, came slowly into the Court with the aid of a stick. Though the weather was hot | he wore a heavy overcoat. j Mr F. W. Johnston, who appeared for Hopkins, said that prisoner had pleaded guilty, hut there was, fortunately, another side to the picture. There was a ray of light and sunshine when one looked at prisoner's private life. He had not delved and dived into other people's funds for the purpose or gambling, reckless expenditure or riotous living. His home life had been exemplary, and he had been a kind and considerate husband and father. In his painiiest days lie had been known for his charitable disposition, and no appeal for a deserving purpose was maue to him in vain, jfartiy through force of circumstances and partly through his optimistic temperament he had finally taken for himself the use of other peoples moneys. He had been partly brought to doing so. It had been his practice to advance on second and third mortgages, and thousands in and around Christ, hurch owed to J;im the fact that they now had their own homes on which they owed nothing. He had been in the habit of advancing on little or no security and in a number of instances he nad had to take over the properties and -manage them as best he could. Latterly, owing to the state of the money market he had been driven to helping himself to what he would consider' as merely the temporary use of other people's moneys, intending to repay as fie realised on securities. When the estate was assigned on February 6th, the balance-sheet showed that the prisoner had remained optimistic that he would be able to pay his creditors in full and still have a substantial balance for his wife and children. The books showed his assets to be £102,816, and the liabilities £75,480, leaving a credit of over £27,000. It was true that some of the later transactions showed that he must have known his case was hopeless, but he had struggled on to the last with the knowledge that if the estate had to be'wound up that credit, owing to the deflation in values, must be wiped out, if there were not a deficiency- Vvhen he first took the moneys there was no intention to defeat or to deprive anybody of anything, and had it not been for the tremendous shortage of money after the war he might halve pulled through, but eventually hj«, had to give up hope and assign. r ~ . , . Mr Johnston went on to speak of prisoner's health, which had been such, he said, as to lead Hopkins to go to Sunnyside as a voluntary inmate. He had remained there for over-three months, and later had gone to Wellington,, where his health'wq? such aa t 0 prevent his attending the last meeting of his creditors. r 'More recently hehad been.arrested and brought to Christchurch, and had since *hen been in gaol; He had many slee£ lees nights there, and they must not be misled by his bronzed appearance, as the gaol- Ji|jq(i.puwi^ during the day to endeavour to induce sleep. He was 63 years but through his trials and tribulations ! he had' aged Very much heyond Jus years. Mr Johnston instanced the case of Rex v. Marriott, as b precedent for granting probation, .and went on t say that if prisQner could not be dealt with in- that/way, his, Honour might make the punishment such as to enable . Hopkins to spend the winter ofhis life in freedom, arid to temper justice with mercy in such a way aa to .hold out some prospect for Hopkins ijp r&ofd^age! 6 Mr*Johnston concluded ijy handing in medical c e rt^ te ?*L to state of prisoner's health froni ■•***• Sandston and from Dr. Gibbs of WellingA. T. Donnelly, Crown Prosecutor, said it was true ihat Hopkins was an old man and in indifferent health, but, apart fromthaty there _waa nothing in the actual offences, nor m prisoner s business system, nor anything else, thai could be urged in mitigation or extenuation. The estate would pay about 6s or 7s in the £. The total ot the defalcations was about £22,000, and the greater number, in themselves, were ofabad character.' from whom the money had were ignorant men or women andl dren; the helpless and ignorant had suffered. The books, over a number of years, showed no optimistic* nature .on the part of the prisoner, but a persistently dishonest temperament over a long period. There was nothing in the books to show that Hopkins, at , the boginning of 'the year, had reason to beeve .that he was solvent. The dooks had bem so kept as not to disclose his position. The offences to which Hogkins, had pleaded guilty were most sevious oases pi a serious. class of onenoe, and a large number of people had been rniped by the thefts. _ In answer •to his Honour, Mr IJonr nellv said* that -tte defalcations involved an amount of from £IB,OOO to £22,000. Mr Johnston remarked that some of the largest sums had been taken not from "ignorant people, but from hardheaded business .men. , .. MrDonnelly said , that , tuat was so in somo instances, »ut a great number of simple-minded men and women had been -victimised. The ' defalcations ranged over a period of about ten years, and there, was. nothing in the books-to show that the business had been conducted honestly. ... His Honour (Mr Justice Adams) said that tho circuihstances, alleged, wihile they made the case & painful one with which to deal ; did not in any way mitigate the seriousness of the crimes to which*' Hopkins had pleaded guilty. Sums ' amounting to ' approximately £20,000, belonging to persons who in most instances ftere ill able to afford the loss, had disappeared through prisoner's dishonesty. It was not a case ih which any question of probation could possibly be considered. His Honour) proceeded that he Oould not take into consideration the ; state of prisoner s health; That was a matter for the prison authorities, who would, •no doubt, do whatever waß necessary. He (had to deal with the fact that for a large number of yean' prisoner had been- carrying on a business with a good reputation, which made it alTthe easier for him to carry on, over a series of yean, frauds which had caused grievous losses to innocent people; who could not bear them without privation-.. "I would be fading in my duty to the public," added his Honour, 'lf I were not to impose a sentence such as to mark the serious nature of the offenoeß. The charges have been laid under a special section of the Grimes Act, uiider which the maximum piinirihrnom .might be seven years' imprisonment. Prisoner will-be sentenced to four years' imprisonment, with hard labour, on each- charge, the terms to be concurrent." . ■•' '■ '. . . I Hopkins, who had beea anxiously scanning: .his Honours faoe oaring his remarks, dropped his head .and sagged,, perceptiolv when sentence was _ pro- j, noUnoed. He appeared somewhat dazed, ( and was assisted from the dock to the:, prisoners' room tat- a warder ana a| i i police officer. '