Bank robbery cash buried

Press, 15 September 1976, Page 7

Bank robbery cash buried

Arthur Herbert Edmonds, a steel fitter, sheltered his cousin John Huntley Rivers and helped him bury $12,000 of the $25,000 he had earlier taken from the C.B.A. bank in Sydenham, the court was told yesterday. Edmonds, aged 25, married with three children under five, pleaded guilty to a charge of being party to a robbery and of suppressing evidence to enable Rivers to avoid arrest.

Edmonds was convicted by Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M., and remanded for sentence on September 21. Sergeant M. R. Caldwell said that on May 17, Rovers had arrived at the defendant’s home. Rivers told Edmonds about the robbery and said he had buried $20,000 in the backyard. Both men then dug the money up and split it into

two parcels. They buried $12,028 under a concrete path. Rivers then showed Edmonds the air rifle he had used in the robbery. Rivers then unscrewed the bolts on the rifle, chopped up the wooden parts, wrapped the rest in newspaper and put the parcel in the rubbish tin. Rivers stayed the night at the defendant’s home, but was apprehended by the police on the morning of May 18.

When Edmonds realised the seriousness of the situation he told the police were the money had been hidden. He also told the police what had happened to the rifle and admitted all the other facts. In explanation he said he helped Rivers because they were related and were both from the same tribe.