Seven Years’ Term For Waterfront Payroll Theft

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28435, 15 November 1957, Page 22

Seven Years’ Term For Waterfront Payroll Theft

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, November 14. Seven years’ imprisonment was today imposed on Trevor Edward Nash, aged 28, a cargo worker, for the £19,000 Auckland waterfront payroll robbery, of which he was found guilty by a jury in the Supreme Court last month. Mr Justice Finlay said the crime was one of singular gravity and had to be matched by the gravity of the penalty. His Honour said there was nothing to indicate whether Nash had been in the venture alone or whether he was with others and it was quite uncertain whether Nash had got all of the money. Nash had been found guilty of breaking, entering, and theft at the Waterfront Industry Commission’s offices in Quay street on November 27 last, theft of three bottles of oxygen and three bottles of acetylene gas, theft of a cutting torch and two regulating gauges, and breaking and entering premises in Manukau road, Epsom, and committing theft. His Honour said the main crime had been carried out with deliberation and foresight. Nash had previous convictions for breaking and entering offences. In his plea for leniency, Mr R. K. Davison said he found his task difficult because of lack of information about the crime.

He added that, in spite of the Probation Officer’s assertion that Nash was a “lone wolf,’’ it would

appear that he was not the only person involved. A lot of equipment had been used, he said—too much for one man to carry in one night, and the cutting of the telephone lines and burglar alarms and other incidental tasks were too big for one man alone. Moreover, Mr Davison said, if Nash had got all the money, he would have spent the unidentifiable £5, £l, and 10s notes. The fact that he tried to spend £lO notes indicated that these denominations were his share. Mr Davison said the crime seemed to have been committed because Nash wanted to obtain money quickly at someone else’s expense, but, said Mr Davison, his earnings on the waterfront were adequate for his needs and those of his family. A heavy punishment would mean Nash’s enforced separation from three children and his wife, who was expecting a fourth child.

Nash was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on each of the first two counts and two years’ imprisonment each on the the others, the sentences to be served concurrently.