Magistrate’s Court Woman stole $45,000 from patient

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 7

Magistrate’s Court Woman stole $45,000 from patient

A 56-year-oid woman was convicted on a charge of stealing $45,000 from a woman who had been staying at her private convalescent home, when she appeared before Mr B. A. Palmer, S.M, in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The woman, whose name has been suppressed, pleaded guilty to 13 charges of theft, and was remanded in cus-' tody to December 24 fori •entence. The Court was told by Sergeant A. R. Bleakley that at the beginning of 1974, the complainant was staying in a private convalescent home, run by the defendant, as a paying guest. The defendant agreed to act as an agent for the complainant to collect her) benefits and conduct her! Post Office affairs. The pro-1 per authority was granted,! and aimost immediately the! defendant started making substantial withdrawals from; the complainant's account.' On May 3, 1975, the com-! plamant was transferred to a hospital where she re-1 mained until her death. It! was then learned that in-! stead of having an estate ini excess of $45,000, her sav-1 ings were completely gone. Sergeant Bleakley said that there was not even enough money left to bury the complainant. The defendant was later interviewed by the police on two occasions, and it was learned that she had made an average weekly withdrawal of $llOO from the account. She admitted the offences, and said that it was her fiance who had insisted that they use the money, because the complainant was so wealthy. With cheques, a "piano, two cars, a caravan, and real estate were bought. The! rest of the money stolen was in cash withdrawals and! amounted to $25,000. Throughout the interviews,! Sergeant Bleakiey said that! the defendant maintained that her fiance had kept the! cash taken, and she had no' further knowledge of it. Sergeant Bleakley said! that the police accepted the! fact that the woman’s fiancej was a co-offender, and they!' were still looking for him. •' The summary said that the police asked only half the : restitution for the money 1 from the defendant. I The police also asked that ; the recovered property be handed to the executors of i the deceased woman’s estate. : In applying for bail, Mr P. H. B. Hall said that he did J not think the defendant was l likely to abscond. He said i that all the assets that the j woman relied upon to pay i restitution were now out of j her hands, and a deed hadl, been drawn up in which the , woman was to pay her! interest profits into the|j account of the deceased’s es- ( tate trustees. The Magistrate said that,i ( in spite of the steps taken h by counsel, he still consid- ■ ered that the remand should! | be in custody. He said thatL as part of the woman’s fam-' ( ily was in Australia, there:, was a possibility that she; might try to go there. He , also refused a request by;, counsel to have the defend-: ant remanded to Sunnyside: Hospital.

SIX MONTHS JAIL An unemployed youth who I broke into a house one afternoon for money and I clothing was sent to jail for! six months on a charge of burglary. Dennis Harold Bristowe, I aged 19, had pleaded guilty! to the charge. He had broken into the< house, in Holly Road, withj an associate after knocking! to check that nobody was at, home. Most of the property stolen, which was worthy ■SSSO, was sold within a few! days of the burglary. Counsel (Mrs P. M. Gib-! son) said that Bristowe was unemployed for a month and' had fallen into bad company. I The Magistrate said that 1

s Bristowe had committed the f; burglary only six days after 11 being admitted to probation -lon another offence. INCEST ! A 23-year-old man con- • victed on two charges of incest with two of his sisters came from an amoral family : of generally limited intelliI gence. the Court heard. The man, whose name was ■lsuppressed, was sentenced to ! four months imprisonment. Counsel (Mr P. J. Egden) said that this sort of beha- • viour had been going on in : the family for many years. The defendant was the only male in a family of four ' children, and this sort of relationship had started before 1 his adolescence. However, nothing of this I nature had happened for some ’iyears until October, when the ; offences occurred, Mr Egden | said. ! All the children were of 'strictly limited intelligence, | and their parents had never I corrected any amoral bei ha viour. "The defendant knew what |he was doing was wrong. I but did not exactly under- | stand how wrong it was. He I did not know the meaning ‘of the word incest.” Mr Egden said. (Before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M.) $4BOO OF MEAT Two men appearing on charges connected with the theft of $4802 worth of firstgrade meat, taken in a burglary of Shackel Meats. Ltd. on Tuesday have both elected trial by jury. One was remanded in custody to February 7 for the taking of depositions. He is Kenneth SidneyJohns. aged 26, who is charged with the burglary of ! Shackel Meats’ warehouse, on Tuesdav. i The other man. John Leonard Jarvis, aged 27, who is (charged with receiving $4BOO (worth of meat from Johns, was remanded on bail of ($2OOO until February 3 for I the taking of depositions. TOOK ROTARY HOE | A 37-year-old man took a ($lOOO rotary hoe from a padidock and towed it behind his; (car to take it home, the: 'Court heard. Noel William Wadsworth,; a truck-driver, pleaded guilty! to charges of stealing a rotary hoe, assaulting a constable, and resisting arrest. He was convicted and re-1 manded to January' 17 for! sentence. Sergeant B. G. Saunders! said that at 11 p.m. on October 9, the defendant was driving with two young passengers in the country near Christchurch, when he stopped outside a paddock and pushed a rotary hoe on to the road near his car. He attached a rope to the! hoe and towed it behind hisj car until the rope snapped.; He then went home, got an-; other rope, and continued to! tow the hoe. At 1 a.m. he was stopped! by a police patrol and asked; to explain his possession of; the hoe. He was unable to do I this. After he was arrested for! theft of the $lOOO hoe. Wads-1 worth kicked two policemen,; one of them in the groin. j