FRAUD CHARGE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20302, 30 July 1931, Page 14

FRAUD CHARGE.

j 4 I BETTING TELEGRAM i ALTERED. ' AC CIS ED FOUND GUILTY. j ' 'TRXSS ISSoIUTIO* . I'KLMJUM.i I WELLINGTON, July li£>. ! Guilty of conspiring to defraud, involving an alteration to a betting telegram, Alfred Jansen, aged 45 ears, a restaurant keeper of Wanganui, was to-day before the Chief Justice, and remanded for sontence until to-morrow. This was the second case heard conj cerning the alteration of a betting tele- ! gram. The charge was that Jansen conspired to defraud Peter Healey, tobacconist, Wanganui, of £B3 ss, and. further, that lie attempted to obtain, money from Healey by false, pretences. Eyideuce was given by the Crown on the same lines as that at the trial of Tohn Maitland, who was acquitted on n -similar charge. It was alleged that Jansen came to 'Wellington and handed in a telegram at the Te Aro Post Office wnrded "Singleton," signed "O. Jansen." The telegram, it was claimed, indicated that Jansen wished to put £ls on Singleton in the Remuera Hurdles .'fit Auckland on June (3th. When the telegram reached Healey tho word Singleton" was not in it, but the words "High "Pitch," which horse it was known at the G.P.O. in Wellington at 1.17 p.m. had won the race. Flis Honour, summing up the case, said all sorts of possible doubts were i suggested, in the case, but tho point upon which the,case.turned was: "Was the telegram when handed in at Te Aro Post Office in the same condition bs- it is jmr?'' If the telegram was altered it could not have been done except by pre-arrangement with accused. His Honour, pointed out how the bad writing on the telegram caused the counter-clerk to ring the name Healey and write it again, and also the name in the body of the telegram. He drew the' attention of the jury to the fact that the letters "itch" in "High Pitch" were outside' the ring which the clerk said he put round the word "Singleton," which, he said, was the name in the telegram. He also put the number of words on the telegram, which would have been nine instead or eight had tho name been "Ilirrh pitch." : b

TJie jury were absent 33 minutes, and gave a .verdict of guilty ou the counts of conspiracy and fnlse pretences. 7