SUPREME COURT Postmaster gaoled for two years on 17 charges

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32848, 23 February 1972, Page 11

SUPREME COURT Postmaster gaoled for two years on 17 charges

Colin Edward Lennon, aged 33, the former Spreydon Postmaster, was imprisoned for two years when he appeared before Mr Justice Wilson in the Supreme Court yesterday for sentence on nine charges of theft as a servant of $18,722 and eight charges of forgery. Lennon pleaded guilty to the charges in the Magistrate’s Court and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. The offences were committed over a period of three years and a half, from the middle of 1968 to January, 1972. The money was spent on gambling. Mr A. F. C. Tipping, for the accused, said that although Lennon faced 17 charges he submitted that the offences should be considered together. The total deficiency was slightly more than $12,000, as about $6OOO had been repaid to the Post Office. Whenever Lennon had had a win he had replaced some of the money. Lennon had started in a small way by repressing some of the deposits over the week-end, and when he got heavily involved he took larger amounts. That was when he began committing the forgeries. After Lennon got on the wheel he found it harder and harder to get off and was always grasping at the elusive hope that one substantial win would enable him to put everything right. The offences were motivated by Lennon’s compulsion to gamble. Finally, the strain grew too much and he disclosed the enormity of his offending to the Chief Postmaster and gave himself up to the authorities. He had assisted very substantially in un-

ravelling the intricate pattern of offending he had woven and had done everything possible to make amends. Lennon was married and had five children whose ages ranged from six months to 12 years. Before these offences he was a man of exemplary character. He had the support of a very loyal and admirable wife who was standing by him and wanted to help him to rebuild his life. A number of testimonials, some of them unsolicited, disclosed that Lennon was a man of many fine qualities. By the series of thefts and forgeries he had lost much of what he treasured and had worked for.

“My plea on his behalf is that a sentence of imprisonment be imposed which leaves him and his family with some sense of hope for the future so that when he is released he will be able to make himself into a useful member of society. I ask that justice be tempered with mercy,” Mr Tipping said. “Counsel has no doubt told you that there cannot be any alternative to a sentence of imprisonment,” said his Honour. “There are some positions which, of necessity have to be held by persons in whom trust can be reposed

because it is not possible to guard against untrustworthiness and that was the position you held and you abused that trust.

“I understand quite clearly how you came to do that although at first sight it seems; inexplicable that a man with your excellent background; and social service should: yield to such palpable dis-! honesty and wrongdoing. “Unfortunately. I have come to know by my experience on the Bench that there are three things which tend to break down the finest character—alcohol, drugs and gambling. A person can become an addicted gambler just as he can become addicted to alcohol or drugs,” his Honour said.

“I sincerely hope for your sake and for the sake of your family that you have not yet reached the stage where your gambling has become an unconquerable addiction. If I thought that it had, it would be my duty to send you to prison for the longest possible time in order to preserve the community from your depredation, but I do not believe that is the case.

I "You are a young man of 1 very considerable ability ;and I hope that the time is not past when you can rehabilitate yourself.

“I am prepared to accede to your counsel’s plea for leniency because the thing that gives me hope that you are not completely addicted to gambling is that you made the initial confession which led to the discovery of these offences and your being prosiecuted. You co-operat»d in [clearing up the tangle which [followed your offending. “One must have regard to your substantial contribution to the community in the Scout movement and the high esteem which you earned for yourself of the people who used your post office.

“I also take into consideration that you are not conditioned to imprisonment in the way that 'a seasoned criminal becomes conditioned. Neither is yout family conditioned to the thought and experience of the husband and father being in prison. “For that reason the sentence I must pass on you will be a much more severe sentence than the equivalent term to one who has become conditioned to crime and its consequences.

“For those reasons I am 'able to pass a much lighter ; sentence than would other- ■ I wise be possible,” said his I Honour.