THEFTS BY NURSE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29637, 6 October 1961, Page 14

THEFTS BY NURSE

Prison Term Imposed (N.Z Press Association) INVERCARGILL, Oct. 5. A 22-year-old student nurse who was to be married next Saturday was sent to gaol for three months by Mr J. K. Patterson, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Invercargill today. The nurse, Peggy Cruickshank, was found guilty of 17 charges of committing theft by failing to account for £437 105—£237 10s from the Kew Hospital student nurses’ canteen fund and £2OO from another nurse. The prison term is to be followed by 12 months’ probation.

The Magistrate told Cruickshank it was always a distasteful task for the Court to pass sentence in such a case.

“What character you have has been reduced to ashes,” he said. “A recitation of the penalties you face is frightening. On the charge of stealing the money from the other nurse, you are liable to seven years imprisonment. On three of the other informations, you can be imprisoned for three years each, and on the remaining charges, you face six months’ imprisonment on each,” he said.

“You were placed in a position of trust as treasurer of the canteen fund whose members were relying on you to administer the fund for the benefits they required.”