£335 THEFT
Nine Months’ Gaol
Gerald Raymond Augustine Wall, aged 39, a contractor, was sentenced by Mr Justice Macarthur in the Supreme Court yesterday to nine months’ gaol on a charge of stealing £335 Os sd, by failing to account, from Nu-Way Dry Cleaners. Ltd.
His Honour said the method of theft was clever, and the prisoner was, ih effect, in a position of trust. The prisoner’s previous offence of dishonesty happened so long ago when he was such a young man that he regarded the prisoner to all in'ents and purposes as a first offender.
He could not possibly accede to counsel's request for a monetary penalty, said his Honour. The sentence haa not only to be a deterrent on the prisoner but also on persons who might be minded to commit similar crimes. SnbmMona For Wall, Mr D. H. Hicks said that apart from two offences committed nearly 20 years ago, the prisoner had lived a hard-working, honest life. No fewer than three former employers gave him excellent references and two of them declared they would give the prisoner a job again tomorrow. The prisoner had made complete restitution for the amount he was convicted of stealing from the company. In fact, he had paid £lOOO,
and a writ had been issued to recover some of that from the company as it was more than the prisoner had been convicted of stealing. Mr Hicks said. Counsel submitted that the company had been to some extent negligent in not keeping adequate checks on its accounting system. His Honour said that even conceding this, and "he was by no means accepting the submission, the difficulty lay in the jury's finding that the prisoner intended to steal by his employment of a skillful means of avoiding the accountancy system of the company.
Mr Hicks submitted that a' heavy monetary penalty; would be a fit punishment. The prisoner would be forced to borrow on his new home. If the Court considered a prison term necessary, counsel submitted it should be a short one in view of the prisoner’s family circumstances and his industry as a worker. 1
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19610526.2.179
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume C, Issue 29523, 26 May 1961, Page 16
Word Count
355£335 THEFT Press, Volume C, Issue 29523, 26 May 1961, Page 16
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in