Magistrate’s Court MAN ADMITS FALSE PENSIONS STATEMENTS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28825, 20 February 1959, Page 8

Magistrate’s Court MAN ADMITS FALSE PENSIONS STATEMENTS

A 68-year-old man in receipt of a war pension had declared that he had not received any income from wages or other sources for the seven years up to April, 1958, whereas he had received a total of £2102 Is 9d in wages during six of those years. By this means it was alleged before Mr N. M. Izard, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday that he had received £lO2O 9s 6d more in pension payments than he was entitled to. The man, who was granted interim suppression of his name, pleaded guilty to six charges of making false statements to the war pensions office in each of the years from 1952 to 1955, and : in 1956 and 1957. One of the two ■ charges of making a false state- : ment in 1954 was withdrawn. i He was represented by Mr B. ■ S. McLaughlin. : The case was adjourned to : February 26. : Sergeant T. A. .Marson said the : offences related to statements :imade by the defendant in appli- : cations for war veterans’ allow- : ances.. Under . a former Act 1 applicants for the allowance were : compelled to submit annually a = declaration of wages or other : income derived during the year : so that the amount of pension : to be paid could be assessed. A = sum of £7B could be earned with- : out deductions being made from : the pension in 1951, and in later : years this amount was increased = to £lO4.

The defendant had declared that he had derived no income during the seven years, but only in one of those years—l9sB—did he receive no income, said Sergeant Marson. When inquiries were made in July last year it was ascertained that he had been employed from May, 1951, until 1955 and from June, 1956, to July last year, and had received £2102 Is 9d in wtiges which had not been declared.

“If this money had been declared the amount of war pensions paid to the defendant would have been reduced by £lO2O 9s 6d,” said Sergeant Marson. He ' said the defendant had admitted the offences when interviewed later, and said he did not realise the seriousness of the charges. He had made arrangements to repay £350 of the sum outstanding in cash, to be followed by later payments. BORSTAL TRAINING Robin Michael Cullen, aged 19, was sentenced to Borstal training When he appeared for sentence on a joint charge of stealing £lO at Rotorua on December 28. Noel Victor Leeming, aged 18, was admitted to probation for

two years and ordered to make restitution of £5 on the same charge.

Noel Andrew Hooper, aged 19, who appeared for sentence on a charge-of receiving £5 at Rotorua when he knew it had been stolen, was admitted to probation for two years and was ordered to make restitution of £5. Leeming and Hooper were represented by Mr G. Lascelles and Cullen by Mr D. J. Boyle. They had all pleaded guilty to the charges. SHOPLIFTING Eunice Marshall, aged 53, a housewife (Mr S. H. Wood), was fined £lO when she pledded guilty to stealing two torches, a jar of sun lotion and groceries, of a total value of 10s 6d, the property of Woolworths, Ltd., on January At 12.30 p.m. a shop inspector saw the defendant place a torch up the sleeve of her dress and leave the store without paying for it, said Sergeant T. A. Marson. When she was searched by a member of the C. 1.8. she was found to have two torches in her possession and a number of other stolen articles. She had £2B. It was clearly a stupid offence, said Mr Wood. The defendant had £2B and had no need to take anything. An elderly woman, who appeared for sentence on four charges of shoplifting involving goods of a total value of £7 16s Id, was fined £5 on each of two charges and was convicted and discharged on the other two. On the application of her counsel, Mr R. W. Edgley, her name was sunpressed. From a very early age the defendant had an unfortunate family history, said Mr Edgley. She was more than 60 years of age and this was her first appearance in Court. For more than 40 years she had been in a home and then almost after a life time she came out last year. When she went into the shop it was almost like a child going in for the first time. The thefts were senseless and the articles were stored in her home with the price tags still on them. She suffered from serious ill health. A 25-year-old woman, whose name was ordered not to be published, was fined £5 on a charge of taking two pairs of earrings, valued at 7s lOd, from a shop on February 3. She pleaded guilty.

Sergeant Marson said the defendant was seen to remove the earrings from their cards on the jewellery counter and place them in a pocket. Mr A. D. Boyle, who represented the defendant, submitted a medical report, which he said showed clearly that some mental or emotional disturbance could have given her the impulse to steal. She had never been in trouble before. YOUTH USED OBSCENE LANGUAGE George John Bryenton, aged 17, a gardener, was fined £5 for using obscene language in Cathedral square on January 10. He pleaded guilty. Evidence was given that a constable on duty in Cathedral square at 10.35 p.m. approached a group of young persons who were congregating outside a milk bar and obstructing the footpath while crowds of theatre-goers were leaving the theatres. The defendant had to be asked several times to move away, and used obscene language to the constable which could be heard by a large number of persons, including women, in the vicinity. BROKE INTO GARAGE Lionel Frederick Timmings, aged 32, a panelbeater (Mr D. J. Boyle), appeared on a charge of breaking, entering and theft from the Blenheim Road Garage on November 12. He pleaded guilty, and was remanded to February 26 for sentence. Bail was renewed Sergeant E. S. Tuck said that an employee at the garage left the premises at 9.5 p.m. on November 12 after first ascertaining that the safe, which was situated by a display counter, was locked, and the doors of the premises securely fastened. The next morning it was discovered that entry had been gained into the office. A welding plant, which had been removed from premises next to the garage, was lying on the floor next to the safe. This had been used to cut open the safe, and the contents, comprising £167 13s in notes and silver, had been removed. Damage to the safe was estimated at £46. The defendant was interviewed on December 16 and said that he was in bed on the night of the offence when a man came to his house and asked if he would do a small job, said Sergeant Tuck. The defendant refused to disclose the man’s name. He was driven by the man to the garage where he was asked to. cut open the safe. "Three other men. whose identity he would not disclose, were present, and one kept watch while the safe was being cut open,” said Sergeant Tuck. "The job took an hour to do. and the defendant was given £3O of the proceeds and driven back again to his home.” The defendant had no previous convictions.

RECEIVED STOLEN GOODS “I am prepared to accept that you were imposed upon by another man. and you are more to be pitied than blamed for your offence,” said the Magistrate, when he admitted Thomas Blackburn Marston, aged 32, a storeman, to probation for two years. Marston was appearing for sentence on a charge of receiving stolen property valued at £Bl Ils 8d between January 1 and 21, to which he had pleaded guilty. Mr B. J. Drake, who represented the defendant, said that apart from one conviction for assault he had a blameless record, and employers testified to his good work record since coming to New Zealand in 1950. “It appears that he was taken advantage of by another man whom he believed to be a friend. Although at first he would not disclose the name of the person from whom he had received the stolen property —one of the factors which might have told against him—he is now prepared to tell the police the other man’s name,” said Mr Drake. He asked the Magistrate to take the view that, as this was his first appearance on i a charge of dishonesty, he was only| a “dupe” for the other person

from whom the goods were received. An order was made for the return of the stolen property. ATTEMPTED SUICIDE Crouched on the superstructure of the Madras street overhead railway bridge an elderly man appeared to be about to jump into the path of an approaching train when he was dragged back on to the bridge by a passer-by, said Sergeant Tuck. The man, whose name was suppressed, was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within 12 months when he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted suicide on February 6. He was represented by Mr D. J. Boyle. NO APPEARANCE When Stanley Clarence Mcllwrick, aged .25, a shearer (Mr J. B. Stringer), was called for sentence on a charge of stealing a cheque valued at £3O, on January 25, there was no appearance of the defendant. Mr Stringer said he had impressed on the defendant that he had to appear in Court, and, he arranged with Him to come into his office at 9 a.m. that day, but he had not arrived. He was employed on country work and Mr Stringer asked for an adjournment to February 26 so that he could make inquiries. The police would also make some inquiries, said Sergeant Marson.

In granting an adjournment to February 26 the Magistrate said if the defendant did not appear then a warrant would be issued for his arrest. REMANDED A youth, whose name was suppressed, was remanded to February 26 on a charge of indecent assault on a female at Kaiapoi on February 10. Bail was renewed. A man, whose name was suppressed (M. E. B. E. Taylor), was remanded to February 26 on a charge of committing an indecent act on February 18. Bail was granted at £5O with one surety of £5O and he was ordered to report daily to the police. Larry Kevin Small, aged 21, a traveller, was remanded to February 26 for sentence on charges of negligent driving causing the death of Gladys Ivy Courtney at Christchurch on October 22, and false pretences involving a sum of £24 6s 8d at Dunedin on February 9. * A young man. who was granted interim suppression of his name, was remanded to February 26 on a charge of theft of a pullover valued at £5 from a house on June 30 last year. (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.) A farmer of the Otahuna returned servicemen’s farm subdivision, G. W. Brice, who pleaded guilty to having lice infested sheep at the Addington saleyards on January 14, was fined £3. He had only recently found out that the Otahuna mob had been ticketed for lice infection in March last year, Brice said, and as only the wethers had been dipped after that, he had taken over lousy stock. He had been the only member ticketed so far, he said, but there had been no woolshed or dip on his section, and there were quite a number of stragglers from one block to another. Also fined for having lice infested sheep at Addington were: E. Haley, £2; Mrs B. M. Clibbon. £4; R. C. Steans, £4; C. E. Loader, £4; A. J. Hammond, £5. TRAFFIC CASES On a charge of driving without due care and attention on December 26. 1958, John Joseph O’Connor was convicted and fined £6, and his licence suspended for one month and endorsed for three years. However, when, an application for a rehearing was made by O’Connor’s counsel (Mr C. J. Steel), the fine was confirmed, but the licence was not affected. There was not sufficient evidence for a conviction of driving without due care and attention, Mr Steel said. There was no doubt that O’Con--1 nor had overtaken foolishly, and he had not the slightest doubt that there was no reason for his overtaking on the left, the Mag- : istrate said.

Olliver Francis Sutton, who was charged with failing to keep to the left on December 20, 1958, was fined £6 and his licence suspended for one month, and endorsed for three years. For exceeding his heavy traffic licence load by one ton llcwt from Hope to Christchurch. lan Charles Thorne was fined £3. For operating unlawfully out of his 30 mile limit, Thorne was fined a further £3. Robert Perry, who said he did not know of the compulsory stop at the corner of Springs road and the Main South road, was fined £5 for failing to stop at a compulsory sign. I Other offenders were dealt 'with as follow*:

Exceeding 30 miles an hour in restricted area.—Granville Alexander Bell, £4; Alan Foster Ramsay (heavy motor vehicle), £3: Robin Beynton Stephenson, £3; Colin Darcy Watson, £6. No driver’s licence.—William John Woods, £5 (failing to give way at intersection, £4). Stopping on keep clear sign.— Benjamin Hayes, £3. Stopping abreast of another vehicle.—Raymond Lester Hopping, £2 (no front number plate, £1). No warrant of fitness.—Sydney Archibald Church, £1 (insufficient lights, £3); Michael Edward Dawson, £2; Mary Guthrey, £l. Failing to stop at compulsory stop.—Anthony Adey, £2; Neil Whitford, £2. Exceeding 30 miles an hour with passenger, neither wearing crash helmets.—Richard John Baker £2 (wrong class of driver’s licence, £3).