Car false pretence charges

Press, 12 October 1988, Page 34

Car false pretence charges

A Christchurch woman “went mad” when a car company’s director told her a deal was off because she and her husband had gone to the police, the District Court heard during a jury trial yesterday. The company director, John Rutherford Scott Sergei, aged 48, of Christchurch, the director of John Sergei Cars, Ltd, Lincoln Road, faces five charges of false pretence dating from March 2 to July 17 last year. Mr Geoffrey Langham, and Mr Greg Trainor appear for Sergei, and Mr David Holderness and Mr John Sandston for the Crown, before Judge Fraser. The trial will continue today. Sergei is charged that with intent to defraud on March 2, 1987, he did obtain from George Alexander Garden $35,000 by false pretence , namely through a Rover car registration, and on March 2

did obtain from Geoffrey Richard Millar, $20,025 and a Holden Commodore valued at $11,495, by means of false pretence by representing a 1982 Rover car with a mileage of 49,000 had done less than 30,000. Sergei faces three further charges of false pretence : that on April 28 with intent to defraud he did obtain from Christine Kay Watterson $12,000 and a Rover car valued at $lB,OOO, that on May 4 he did obtain $7500 with Daimler and Honda cars valued at $30,000 by falsely representing the mileage and that on July 17 with intent to defraud he obtained from Christine Kay Watterson a Rover valued at $30,000 by false pretence by falsely representing the mileage of a Rover and its year of registration. In opening submissions on Monday Mr Holderness said the Crown alleged Sergei acted fraudulently in the sale of each of five Rover cars. The false pretence alleged was that Sergei changed the year of initial registration and the mileage. The Crown only alleged change of registration in the charge involving Mr Garden. A change of both registration and mileage is alleged concerning the other four charges once the cars had been cleared by the Customs Department at Lyttelton. All the cars were bought from the Springfield Motor Company in England by Sergei, Mr Holderness said. A witness, Mrs Christine Kay Lidstone, a sales representative in Christ-

church, said she had owned three Rover cars bought from Mr Sergei. She bought the first one in late 1986 from John Sergei Cars, Ltd, and it was sluggish and would not go properly, she said. She traded that one in for $30,000 for a second Rover with an indicated mileage of 39,951. She had traded the first car in for $lB,OOO with a $12,000 cash payment. That car was “absolutely shocking,” with many problems, she said. The odometer on the second car had jammed at 40,000 miles and the car had been taken to the car firm to be fixed, she said. When at the garage she had asked Sergei whether the odometer had been wound back. She said he had told her “No, you cannot do that.” The car was taken in for further repairs, but she was not charged for them, she said. On the way to Hanmer Springs towing a caravan the motor seized at Saltwater Creek. She then spoke to Mr Sergei on the phone, on his return from England, and asked for her money back in full, she said. At first he agreed but could not afford to for three months, and offered another later model Rover at a lower price, she said. She and her husband then went to see Sergei and gave him 24 hours to get the money back. Five minutes before the 24 hours were up he rang. She told him he was going to pay her money back and she wanted a $lO,OOO

deposit now and $19,500 after two months, she said. As he did not want her to go to the police he agreed, she said. Before the two months were up Sergei rang her husband and told him the deal was off because they had gone to the police, she said. “I spoke to him later on the phone. I went mad and told him it was not fair for not sticking to the deal.” If she had known about the information on the used car sales invoices for her red and blue Rovers, she would not have bought them, she said. Under cross-examina-tion she agreed that on the papers there was no actual word “mis (miles) or anything else.” Mr Langham asked whether she had declined the use of an offered Commodore car, after the Rover broke down at Saltwater Creek. “Yes,” she said. She also agreed a rental car had been rented to her while the car was being fixed. Asked how long Sergei had been back from Britain when she went to see him she replied “about three days.” “What you were going to do was trade in a red for a blue car?” “That was what Sergei wanted us to do.” “But you agreed to trade it in?” “Yes, because Sergei had been in England and did not have services available.” “Are you still angry?” “Yes, because I am still down the drain.”