Matron Guilty On 19 Charges

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29764, 6 March 1962, Page 14

Matron Guilty On 19 Charges

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 5. Grace Gillanders Dagg, aged 54, a former matron of the Panama Home, Mastei’ton, was found guilty by a jury in the Supreme Court, Wellington, today after a retirement of five hours, on 15 counts of theft, two counts of forgery, one of uttering and one of attempted uttering. She was acquitted on one charge of theft, 10 charges of forgery and nine of uttering.

Mr Justice Leicester remanded Dagg tor sentence. The Crown alleged that by a system of forgery and uttering forged documents, Dagg stole about £l5OO from Savings Bank accounts and other money, the property of four of the patients in the Panama Home.

Summing up, his Honour said the case was an unusual and important one One of the great social problems of the present time was the responsibility that was owed to the aged in their closing years and the duty toward them, a duty often carried out under difficulties due to their physical and mental infirmities. “Here we are concerned with the criminal aspects of this particular problem, but we cannot entirely dismiss from our minds the social aspect because of the vagaries of old people and the tendency they have at times to imagine things" Between July, 1958, and

January, 1959, the Post Office savings accounts of three of the inmates in the home of which Dagg was matron were “virtually stripped.” It could be asked whether the withdrawals were coincidental or followed some criminal pattern on the part of Dagg, he said.

The jury had to apply its mind to each count and not infer guilt because of the number of counts, he s_li.