Housekeeper admits theft

Press, 6 September 1983, Page 4

Housekeeper admits theft

PA Wellington A kitchenhand stole a slgoo ring while working as temporary housekeeper for the Australian High Commissioner, it was said in the District Court at Lower Hutt. Diana Pamela Townsend, aged 22, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing the ring. Sergeant R. Bull said Townsend was employed by the commissioner’s wife, Mrs Jean Webster, early in July while the housekeeper was sick.

After the defendant had finished working there, Mrs Webster noticed that various items of clothing and jewellery were missing. On August 17, the police received information that the defendant was wearing a sapphire-and-diamond ring valued at about $lOOO. The police, with a warrant, searched Townsend’s

address and she was seen wearing the ring when they arrived. She removed it and concealed the ring under the top of her jeans but later acknowledged that the ring had been stolen. Townsend said she did not know the value of the ring and would not have taken it if she had.

She also appeared for sentence on 12 charges of false pretence to which she had earlier pleaded guilty. Counsel (Mr Steven Gill) said they were the first offences by the defendant, committed over a two-week period while she was unemployed. Judge Bathgate sentenced Townsend to 30 hours community service for the theft of the ring and a further 80 hours on the false pretence charges. She was put on probation for 18 months.