COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23579, 5 March 1942, Page 6

COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

£BOO FRAUD ALLEGED j WOMAN PLEADS NOT I GUILTY I A After pleading not guilty and reserv. •ling her defence. Irene Evelyn Beau--11 mont. aged 27 years, was commit *eci ■ to the Supreme Court for trial. She ' was charged in the Magistrate s Court ■ yesterday, with intent to defraud, ol i obtaining £BOO from Eva Margaiet Moody. Mr E. C. Lcvvey, S.M.. was 1 on the Bench. Mr J. K. Moloney appeared for Bcau- ‘ mont. and the case lor the police was 1 taken by Semor-Dctective H. Nuttall A statement made to the police by 1 Beaumont in September. 1941, was read ■ by Detective George Walter Ally, ol - Christchurch. She was employed as • an egg-grader, said the accused, and . was earning £1 13s 9d a week, £1 2s 1 6d of which went for board, “1 be- ; lieved that I had a substantial legacy coming to me tor the last six years, the statement road, "The money ; should have gone to my mother had , she lived. The amount I expected tc receive was £BOOO. I received £2OO a , year for about three years, and the last ; money I received would be about 1? 1 months ago. The last payment was • £IOO in bank notes, which came to me • by post from the North Island. I know where the money came from, but I dr , not intend to disclose the source. “I called on Mr Shackle to ask his . advice on personal and private mat- . ters,” she said, referring to a witness who was called on Tuesday. She added 1 that he gave her a magazine on 1 Christian Science, and invited her tc ■ attend the Christian Science Church, •'He also made an appointment lor i me to meet him in an office in Calhe--1 drat square. I kept that appointment : When 1 saw Mr Shackle he talked rei ligion to mo and read to me trom a i book. Wc then discussed money mat- • ters. and 1 told him that I wished to : raise £800." continued Beaumont's .statement, which said that she told | Shackle that she wished In use part ' of the money to recuperate her health. ' “Mr Shackle told me that he was quite sure that he could raise the money for me on certain conditions. I did not approve of the conditions which he stipulated, and I refuse to disclose the stipulation'," continued (he accused's statement, “I was unable to raise the £BOO and - I told Mr Shackle of this, He again made certain suggestions to me as before. and I would not comply with them, Ho then threatened me that il 1 I did not comply with his suggestions, he would fid mo into trouble, He wanted me to write nut n statement ■ in his words, and 1 refused to do this," added Beaumont at the end of her statement. Detective AU>' said that bo had questioned Beaumont about her approach to Shackle for the loan of a 1 ;c sum of money. “The accused was very secretive and refused )o , answer certain questions that I put to her,’’ he said. Solicitor’s Evidence Harold Francis Bollard, a solicitor, stated that his firm had no dealings with any legacy to Beaumont in the last few years. He had no information whatever of a legacy of £BOOO for the accused. Information that on July 11, 1941. a typewriter was hired from her firm to a Miss Compton was given by Lucy Margaret Wootton, a clerk. The machine was collected on July 14, it was stated. About November, 1940, the accused brought a letter to him which staled that £I2OO would be payable to her five months from the dale, and that the balance of the estate, about £7OOO, would be payable at the end of 1941, .said Herbert Henry Larsen, a grocer. On December 12 he had made her a payment of £25, he said. At the end of March. 1941, Beaumont came again, . and ho lent her a further £3O. In ; July, when he went to see her. she . produced a newspaper cutting which stated that McDonald, a solicitor, oi Wellington, had committed suicide by ; drowning, and she stated that any 1 money which was coming to her was , gone." Larsen said that he believed the i representations she made to him about ■ her money, and on that ground he had ■ advanced her the loans. , He had told her that when the solici- ' tor died, il would make no difference . to her money, as it would be covered • by a fund. The accused had answered ■ that she knew that, but said that it ■ she brought the case to light she would involve someone, who was very deal to her. and said that she would rathci , take the blame herself. Later she had told him that she would try _to raise the money privately to pay him off, Alexander Stothcrs. a storeman stated that Beaumont had approached him lor the loan of £ls. which he , gave her. and for which he had received a signed acknowledgement. She had requested that he keep the matter I strictly confidential. She had said that ■ she wanted to go to Wellington to fix ' up some business which, he under- ' stood, was the trust money in which ; she was interested. A statement that in August. 1941, 1 the 1 accused called at his place, was i given by George Robert Queale. a farmer. of Lochiel. Southland, who said that Beaumont had told him that she ; was keeping company with his son who j was in a military camp. She had told ; him that she was in financial diflfi- , cutties, the amount involved being a i considerable sum. about £6OO. He : had given her a cheque for £lO. 1 An application by Mr Moloney for | a reduction of bail, which was fixed at £IOOO on the accused's own reeog- : nisance, and one surety of £ 1000, was . refused by the Magistrate. 1