SUPREME COURT Man Found Guilty Of False Pretences

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 15

SUPREME COURT Man Found Guilty Of False Pretences

Peter Alexander O’Connor, aged 26, unemployed, was found guilty by a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon of two charges of false pretences and was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Wilson to September 10 for sentence.

The jury took one hour and 10 minutes to reach its verdict.

O’Connor (Mr B. A. Hunt) pleaded not guilty to two charges of false pretences involving cheques for $26.50 and $35.50 and two alternative charges of receiving the proceeds from the cheques.

The accused was the instigator of false pretences committed by a young woman in Christchurch last month, said the Crown Prosecutor (Mr W. S. Smith). Garry John McGraw, a geological assistant, said that his cheque book was stolen when

he was staying at the Latimer Motor Lodge on the night of I July 15. i Shirley Anne Brunton, a single woman, of Wellington, said that on July 15 she flew from Wellington with several persons including the accused and Stella Wyatt. They had stayed at the Latimer Motor Lodge in one motel, on the night of July 15. She and ithe accused went to Coker’s 1 Hotel and as they were walk- ' ing back into town O’Connor ■ asked her to cash some ’cheques. He gave her blank ' cheque forms "which she filled I in for $25 and $35 odd, and signed the name printed on the forms. She gave them to ‘O’Connor. He gave her back one of the cheques, with which she bought a pair of I shoes for $5 odd and got $2l in change. “Accused Outside” O’Connor was waiting outside the shoe shop where she ; gave him the money and the i shoes because the Cheque was ibis. Miss Brunton said. She then went to Hallenstein’s ishop and tried to cash the other cheque there, but the i assistant, after going away said he could not cash it i Miss Brunton said she then , walked to the shop across the 1 road, picked up a man’s shirt i from the shelf, and paid for it 'with the cheque. O’Connor 'came in behind her. After ■ they got outside, she gave him the $2B or $29 in change and the shirt. She identified shoes and a shirt produced as ones she had purchased with the cheques. “We walked up the street and across the road. Two detectives stopped us. One spoke to me, and the other to Mr O'Connor, who said that he did not know me and

wasn’t with me when we were approached by the. detectives.

“To be honest I didn’t have any reaction I was too frightened,” witness said. “I was arrested on that afternoon and charged with two charges of false pretences in respect of the two cheques. I appeared in tbe Magistrate’s Court next day and pleaded guilty,” she said. To Mr Hunt, witness said that she did not know O’Connor very well. He bad not used any force or persuasion to get her to fill in the cheques. She had done it on the spur of the moment. Had she thought about it, she would not have done it She had not told O’Connor that one of the cheques had been refused. He told her to try a store until it was cashed. O’Connor had fraid her air-fare to Christchurch, for the motel, and for a meal. She had not told him that she would pay for the airfare in Christchurch. No mention had been made of money. Miss Brunton denied that she had committed the offences on her own and had only said that she had committed them on O'Connor’s behalf when she was caught.

Detective’s Evidence Detective Sergeant W. R. Withers said that on the afternoon of July 16 he went to the corner of Cashel and Colombo Streets where O’Connor and Miss Brunton were pointed out to him. O’Connor was carrying two parcels and appeared to be with Miss Brunton. When he told O'Connor that he was making inquiries about the cashing of two cheques by Miss Brunton, O’Connor became excited and said he was in the city for a few days with his wife and staying at the Latimer Motor Lodge. He had said he did not know Miss Brunton, and had never seen her before. Asked about the parcels he was carrying, O’Connor had said that he had bought the articles. He had walked up to Miss Brunton and asked her her name. At C. 1.8. Office

At the C. 1.8. office, O’Connor told witness that the woman he was with was not his wife but a girl friend named Stella. Miss Brunton was staying with them at the Latimer Motor Lodge, O’Connor had said. He had denied knowing Miss Brunton because he thought that she was in trouble and did not want to get mixed up in it

O’Connor had said that Miss Brunton had asked him to go shopping with her. When told that she had implicated him, O'Connor had denied all

knowledge of the cheques. After he was arrested on charges of false pretences, O’Connor had said: "If you can prove I had anything to do with those cheques I’ll eat my hat.” To Mr Hunt, Detective Withers agreed that O’Connor was of an excitable nature. Accused Gives Evidence

O’Connor, giving evidence, said that he had brought the two girls to Christchurch because they had to collect a debt and he brought a friend to make it a foursome. Miss Brunton told him that she had to cash some cheques to repay him the money she owed him. It was his normal practice to carry parcels for a lady when she was shopping. She had given him the change from the cheques because she and Stella owed himss3.

On being approached by the detective, he had denied knowing Miss Brunton because he realised there was trouble and he did not want to get involved. He had not known where the cheques came from and had never seen them, O'Connor said, said. To Mr Smith, O'Connor said that he had asked Miss Brunton what her name was because at the time he had been flustered. He knew there was trouble, and he had said the first thing which came into his head. When Miss Brunton made a statement implicating him, he was “infuriated” because she was trying to take the blame from her shoulders and attach it to him. Question by Judge

To his Honour, O’Connor said that he was at sea until six months ago. Then he had worked part-time ashore as a manager of a dining-room in Wellington. Before the case, he bad not been working for a month. He had come to Christchurch to play cards.