ELDERLY WOMAN’S EVIDENCE ON THEFT OF SAVINGS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28540, 20 March 1958, Page 17

ELDERLY WOMAN’S EVIDENCE ON THEFT OF SAVINGS

A single woman, aged 79, Sarah Jane Wells, said in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday that about £6O in money had been taken from her house on or about February 20; about £2O had been taken from a purse, the rest from under a mattress in her bedroom. Another quantity of money, about £3OO to £4OO. also under the mattress was not taken. She was giving evidence for the prosecution against James Henry McCarthy. aged 34, a labourer, who was .charged with the theft, on or about February 20, of a woman’s gold wrist watch, a Post Office Savings Bank passbook, a Bank of New Zealand account book, a purse and about £6O in money, of a total value of £65. the property of witness. McCarthy, for whom Mr R. De Goldi appeared, pleaded not guilty and was committed for trial at the next criminal session of the Supreme Court. Mr H. T. Fuller, J.P., and Mr L. C. Fulford, J.P., were on the bench. Bail was allowed at £53 in accused’s own recognisance, with a surety oi £lOO, and he was ordered to report twice a week to the police. Senior Detective-Sergeant J. B. McLean prosecuted. Wells said that she was 79, and lived alone at 78 Mathesons road. She was partly crippled. A Miss Duffy collected her old-age pension and she generally got three £5 notes, a 10s note and silver. Money she saved was put under a mattress on her bed. On February 20 she found that the money was missing.- For seven months she had not been outside the gate of her home. At 5 p.m. on that day she went into her bedroom and found things all upside down. She last saw the money she had in that room the day before when she had given money to a neighbour to buy groceries. There were £5, £l, and 10s notes there. There had been about £2O inside a purse. The purse was missing. The rest of the missing money had been under the mattress. There was other money, £3OO or £4OO. under the mattress. This was not taken. Some of the missing notes were new’. Police Called Witness said that she told her neighbour that the money had gone and he called the police. The back door of her house was open during the day. On February 21 Detective R. G. Newman showed her a purse, which was hers, said witness. He also showed her bank notes. She knew the accused. He had come to her place about five times; the first time had been about 10 days before she missed the money. He wanted to know whether he could dig her garden. She had refused. He asked whether her husband were dead, whether she had any daughters, and whether she lived alone. That was on a Saturday. He came again the next Tuesday and asked whether she wanted Jier house painted. She had bank accounts with the Post Office Savings Bank and the Bank 'of New Zealand. The passbooks, which were under the mattress, were taken. A woman’s ■ gold wrist watch was also taken. Collection of Pension Mary Kate Duffy said that she collected Miss Wells’s pension from the Linwood Post Office, s There were usually new £5 notes. > Morna Kathleen Jesson said that she knew the accused as a customer of her shop in Mathe-

sons road. On February 20 he had bought cigarettes there about 4.30 p.m. Kathleen Orchard, of 74 Mathesons road, said that on February 20 after 4.30 p.m. she saw accused coffiing between the houses of Miss Wells and her neighbour. He was in Miss Wells’s property. He jumped the fence on to the footpath. Russell Edward Withers, supervisor at the Linwood Post Office, said that the sequence of new £5 notes ran from 1 to 100 in a packet. The notes would be distributed in the order they came from the bank. It was an additional check for tellers to watch the numbers on notes to avoid paying out an additional one. James Frank Logie, a ( truck driver employed in refuse collection by the Christchurch City Council, said that accused worked on his truck. ’On February 21 accused did not come to work. On February 20, accused finished work between 3.30 p.m. and 3.40 p.m. and left to collect his pay. Detective R. G. Newman said that when arrested and searched, accused produced notes worth about £7O and said that he had got money from the horses. Witness produced ” the money and money taken from accused’s property at the police station. The total was £7l 18s 2}d. Accused had said that he had got the money from the T.A.B. and bookmakers about a fortnight before: a horse called Solemnity had paid more than £4. Witness said that accused’s home had been searched but there was no sign of the stolen property. On February 21 he had searched the complainant’s garden and found a purse. He produced notes taken from accused and a schedule of the money showing the order in which the money was found. Detective R. J. Crooks gave similar evidence. .James Herbert Keys, assistant secretary of the New Zealand Trotting Conference, gave the recent performances of the gelding Solemnity.