Constable Sentenced

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31680, 16 May 1968, Page 26

Constable Sentenced

(N.Z. Press Association) WHANGAREI, May 15. “You have brought disgrace upon the force and your family,” Mr R, M. Grant, S.M., said to a former police constable, Jack Ennis Jones, aged 33, of Kawakawa, in the Whangarei Court today. Jones, who appeared for sentence, was gaoled for four months on each of two charges of stealing money

from the Justice Department, the terms to be concurrent. The prison sentence is to be followed by 12 months probation, a special condition being that Jones makes restitution of $177.50. Mr Grant said the theft of trust moneys, of which Jones had been guilty, shook the confidence of the public in the integrity of the police force. Jones had been helping himself to large and small amounts of money and had made numerous false statements to cover up.

Counsel, Mr B. R. Boon, said it was a tragic case. Jones had served 15 years as a constable with a previously clear record. At Kawakawa, Jones, who had originally been under a senior constable, was left for up to two

years as sole officer in charge. The offences started during this period. Jones had been under stress in coping with manifold duties, and because of his wife’s ill health. The latter factor possibly contributed to his state of mind leading to the offences. The cost of repairs to Jones’s car, which was used on official business from October, 1966, until March this year, was considerable. Jones had lost more than $5OO on his car, above the mileage paid by the department It was to his credit he had repaid some of the outstanding money at Kaikohe. Mr Boon said that Jones did not have the benefit of secondary education and had not had a particularly good start in life.