$6000 taken from tins in garage

Press, 13 April 1978, Page 3

$6000 taken from tins in garage

A retired man who kept $6OOO in two empty quart paint tins in the workshop of his garage found the tins empty when he went to get money to repair a broken window latch on January 26.

This evidence was given before Messrs D. H. Hemsley and J. D. Diggs, Justices of the Peace, in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday during depositions against a man, whose name was suppressed, on a charge of theft.

The complainant said that four, other persons besides himself knew that he put his money in the workshop. They were his wife, his daughter, the accused, and an aquaintance at Redwood. He said that his wife and daughter knew that he put money in his workshop but they did not know where. The acquaintance did not know the money was in tins. The complainant said that he had known the accused, who was his daughter’s boyfriend, for about three] months.

“He came to stay with us on numerous occasions,” the complainant said. This was because the accused lived out of town but was receiving treatment at a hospital in Christchurch. The accused had stayed at his place on the evening of January 25, the complainant said. The next morning after 1 complainant had taken him to hospital for treatment, he went to his workshop where he noticed the window had a broken latch. He thought he had better replace the latch before nightfall, and went to get money from the tins. “I was thunderstruck when I found that both tins were bone dry,” he said. The complainant said that the previous day he had gone into the workshop first thing in the morning and had found a large tin of assorted screws all over the floor. “At the time 1 did not re-

alise that the money was missing, and I expressed amazement at the fall of the tin to the floor as it weighed about 51b,” he said. The accused had been into the workshop one or two times, the complainant said, and knew that the money was there, although he had never been shown the tins. The complainant said that on the night of January 25 the accused had stayed the night, sharing a room with him while his wife and daughter had slept in another room.

“The accused did not go out that evening, to my knowledge. We all retired at the same time, about 9.30 p.m.,” said the complainant. Detective Sergeant R. J. Hardie (prosecuting) asked the complainant’s daughter if she knew how much money her father had in his workshop. She did not know, she said, but she gave him $2O regularly to put in the bank for certain requirements.

; She had never discussed the money in the workshop with her father in front of the accused but later, under c r o s s-examination by defence counsel, (Mr P. J. Rutledge), she said that she had discussed it in front of her boyfriend. When asked why she could not give her father money about a week before the money in the tins disappeared, she said: “I said I would put in the tin in the garage.” Under cross-exam-ination, she said that she had lied to her father. She had not put the money, in the paint tins. She did not know where they were in the workshop. i The daughter said that on [February 8 she went to her [boyfriend’s place for dinner. ! On the way to catch her bus ihome, he 7 had boasted to her [that he could lay his hands ion $6OOO in the bank, and ihad laughed about it. They i had “just been talking about

money,” and it had come up. She had not told her boyfriend then that her father had had $6OOO stolen, because her father had told her to keep quiet about it. When she got home she had told her father what her boyfriend had said. Detective R. Homan gave evidence that on February 27 he saw the accused about a complaint of theft.

The accused had said that he took the money, having stayed at the complainant’s place on January 25.

On that night, the accused had said, he had been out drinking and on returning to the complainant’s house had got into the garage and found the money. The accused had said he could not remember what he had done with the ‘money after that. He had not spent it. In a written statement, the accused had said: “I think 1 forced a window and tripped over a concrete step. I don’t think I turned the lights on in the workshop.” He later remembered that he had hidden the money but he could not remember where. He had wanted to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring, but he had not intended to use that money.

Detective Homan said that later that day the accused, who was being held at the police station, had asked to see him, and said that he had remembered that he had buried the money in the complainant’s garden. He was taken there with witness and another detective, but found that -the whole of the garden had been dug up and the money could not be found.

The money had still not been located, Detective Homan said. The Justices of the Peace ruled that a prima-facie case had been established and committed the accused to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was allowed.