CHARGE DISMISSED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21124, 27 March 1934, Page 7

CHARGE DISMISSED

a <;ambun<; transaction ■l-Ul.-r. tsSOCIVIIOX TELKuRaM.) AUCKLAND. March 26. A charge of theft arising out of bets made on racehorses was dismissed byMr W. R. McKean. S.M., in the Onehungu Police Court. In outlining a charge of thelt against Sydney Gordon Ross, the police said the accused was alleged to have stolen 10s and 30s from a Chinese market gardener, Wong Won;:. The facts were that the accused had given the complainant "tips." with the result that the latter had given him money to bet on a horse at the Takapuna races on November 30. The horse won and paid £2B. but the accused had failed to pay the complainant his dividend. On the day following, Wong Wong gave acetised 30s for investment on other horses at the same meeting, but none of t'hese won. Wong Wong said the accused, when asked for the dividend, said he had not received it, yet he had. he said, put it on with a bookmaker whose name he did not know. "How are you going to prove theft?" asked the magistrate. "If he received money to put on a horse, he would not be guilty of theft. If it was a gambling transaction, the complainant would have no ground for complaint." The magistrate held that there was no evidence that the money had been stolen. He could not convict on the charge of theft. As it had been a gambling transaction, the criminal law should not have been resorted to.