The courts

Press, 12 August 1978, Page 4

The courts

Man fined $250 for cheque offences

A man who used $2OOO worth of cheques written on his employer’s account to pay off lease arrears on land at Templeton to the Ministry lof Works, was fined $250 by iMr Justice Somers in the Supreme Court yesterday. The man, Richard Lloyd garden, aged 31, a former transport company employee, and Shirley Margaret i Jarden, aged 37, his wife, were found guilty by a jury j last week on five joint ‘charges of using cheques to ■ the value of $2OOO with intent to defraud and obtain a i pecuniary advantage. I Shirley Jarden was convicted and discharged on all I charges. Evidence was given at the trial that, the Jardens owec I more than $3OOO for 5S I acres of Sand they leased from the Ministry of Works in Waterholes Road. When they were pressed for payment they drew five cheques on the account of White Star Horse Transport, Ltd. Jarden was employed as the Christchurch manager ol that firm and his wife as s part-time bookkeeper. The offences were committed between August and Septem her, 1977. ’

I Mr 1. J. D, Hall, who ap-j speared for both defendants,! | said that the evidence show-1 led that there was no pre-1 meditated pian to defraud the company. The offences were committed after they were threatened with eviction by the Ministry of Works and desperately needed money. The offences were com-i imitted quite openly and it was obvious to the Ministry! of Works where the cheques! had come from. The Jardens! had a mistaken belief that! they were entitled to use the! [cheques for this purpose. Mrs Jarden had a blameless record, was a stable person and had worked for the Post Office for 16 years, becoming senior clerk. She i and her husband had put all their savings into a sevenday dairy and they had a child, aged 21 months. Jarden had a consistent i record and had had a re- : sponsible position with an insurance company for some i years. He had been a rnern- ’ ber of a large family. i All the money owing to i the Ministry of Works on ■ the lease had been paid. As • White Star Horse Transport, Ltd, had paid both Jardens

below the award rate the i matter had been taken upi with the Department of Labour which had stated that the amount the company owed the Jardens was greater than the $2OOO obtained from the cheques. The conviction itself was a great punishment for Jarden whose main interest was horse racing. He had owned horses and he would now be prohibited from going on a racecourse. Mr Hall submitted that a fine would be an appropriate sentence. His Honour said that the Jardens had used their employer’s money to pay for their private lease. He accepted that it was their [intention to repay the money ultimately but it was a course they were not entitled to take. They had misused their position in the company. Both were appearing before the Court for the first time and the probation officer’s report showed that not only was there nothing adverse in their past, but on the contrary, they had lived very useful lives. It was not a case which called for a custodial sentence, said his Honour.