Judge halves prison term

Press, 15 July 1978, Page 4

Judge halves prison term

A young married bank officer ‘‘who wanted too much too soon” and resorted to theft from his employer when he got behind in his payments for his mortgage, car and furniture, had his jail sentence cut by half on appeal by Mr Justice Roper in the Supreme Court yesterday. Gregory Dickson Wilson, aged 22, who formerly worked for the Commercial Bank of Australia, was jailed for 18 months by Mr N. L. Bradford, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court on April 8 on

five charges of theft and two of using a document for pecuniary advantage. Mr K. N. Hampton, for Wilson, said that the offences involved theft of a little over $9OOO from the bank between October, 1977, and March, 1978. The appeal was against the length of the jail term on the ground that it was excessive. Even before his marriage Wilson had become overcommitted financially. He had used a system known as “kite flying” in banking cir-

cles whereby he would withhold a cheque until after 3 p.m. so that it would not be included in that day’s transactions. Matters gradually got out of hand and he resorted to theft, said counsel. Wilson was not a gambler and had not stolen the money to dissipate it or to salt it away. The money was used for household expenses; it was a case of a young man wanting too much too soon. Although Wilson had two part-time jobs, one spraypainting cars and the other working for a caterer, he was unable to keep up his various payments. He had mistakenly told the Magistrate when he was about to be sentenced that he was getting $3O a week from those jobs whereas it was only $3O a month. On that basis the Magistrate had calculated ■ that he had about $7OOO salted away. The bank had taken Wilson’s superannuation contributions as part-payment of; restitution but it had not sold his house. Wilson wanted to make restitution) but he did not want to lose) his house. From the probation officer’s report it appeared that Wilson was an immature young man who was unable to manage hs finances and that he had been too proud to tell his wife and family of the situ-

ation he was getting himself into. The jail term of 18 months was excessive for a first offender with a wife who had a 10-week-old infant, Mr Hampton said. His Honour said that Wilson had co-operated in clearing the matter up. He had got into financial difficulties after buying a house, car and chattels and, after starting stealing in a small way, he had had to keep it up. Theft as a servant was a serious matter, but an 18month jail term was excessive in the circumstances, his Honour said. It appeared that the Magistrate took the view that Wilson had $7OOO hidden away but that was most unlikely. His Honour reduced the 18-month sentence to one of nine months, to be followed by a year’s probation. Wilson was also ordered to organise his financial affairs under the direction of the probation officer.