Woman kept cheques

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 15

Woman kept cheques

The mother of a young * cashier in the Maori Afi fairs Department said in > the District Court that she j believed the department ; ran a very slack system in • allowing an employee to i carry round the banking ■ for several days before it »■ was banked. ■ The woman said she t made the comment to her

daughter after her daugh- < ter had said she had had * some cheques in her ; purse but had banked j. them later. ■ The witness, Valerie

■ Joyce Horlor, said this t was not the first case of > slackness that she had mentioned with regard to I her daughter’s work at ■ the department. > “I found some of the things she told me about what she did at work were extremely slack,” she said. Mrs Horlor was giving evidence for the police in charges against her daughter, Karilyn Frances Horlor, aged 18, of theft of money and cheques while employed by the department last December.

After a defended hearing lasting most of the day, Judge Holderness found Horlor guilty of alb three charges but in respect only of the theft of cheques. The offences involved the bankings of December 12, 22, and 23 last year, with a total of 41 cheques. These had been written out to the department for a sum of $96,911, according to evidence. At the completion of prosecution evidence, the Judge deleted the theft of $lO4 cash from one of the charges, accepting submissions by defence counsel, Mr Laurie O’Reilly, that there was insufficient

evidence of a theft. At the completion of the case the Judge also withdrew a sum of $436 cash from another charge, but held that Horlor was guilty of the theft of the cheques in all three charges. He said his clear view was that Horlor had no intention at all of trying to rebank the cheques; or if she did it was a very half-hearted intention. He believed she was simply hoping that nothing would come of the matter. He said there was no suggestion Horlor intended ultimately to try to cash the cheques or obtain proceeds from them. The Judge remanded Horlor to a date to be set for sentence on the three charges, and also for a fixture of another charge, of the theft of $9O cash while employed by the department on December 14.

Sergeant Kevin Morrison prosecuted. He said an inquiry was made after the Treasury Department advised that department revenue vouchers for December 12, 22 and 23 could not be processed because the funds had not been lodged with the bank.

Ann Marie Walker, a senior reception officer in the accounts section of the department, said she checked the banking on the days concerned, before Horlor was to take them to the bank.

The banking for December 12 involved 15 cheques, totalling $35,866, and no cash; for December 22 12 cheques, totalling $34,305 and $436 in cash; and for December 23, 14 cheques totalling $26,739 and no cash.

Cross-examined, she agreed that frequently there had been delays between her handing back the banking after approving it, and it being taken to the bank. She said she did not recall when she put the banking back into the defendant’s drawer on December 12 and 22.

She agreed it was possible she did not hand the two earlier bankings to the defendant personally.

William Edwards, district manager of the department for the South Island, said that after being notified while on holiday about the apparent missing cheques and money, he interviewed Horlor on January 27.

She said she did not know anything about the cheques or money. At Mr Edwards’ suggestion she went home to discuss the matter with her parents. Her mother later telephoned and said they had had an amicable discussion and she believed she could help him.

Mr Edwards said Horlor arrived back with her mother, who told him they had found the cheques in a wardrobe at the defendant’s flat.

A “bundle of cheques” and a receipt book were then given to him.

Horlor admitted to him that she had taken the cheques home but denied knowing anything about the cash. Mr Edwards said Horlor had denied emphatically taking the cash which had been prepared for banking. He said she told her she had panicked when she took the cheques. He gained the impression from what she told him that because of a problem in the depart-

ment at an earlier stage, and with her primary responsibility being the banking, she would get the blame. Horlor told her she had had some cheques in her purse but had banked them later. After the witness again spoke to Mr Edwards, her daughter told her she still had the cheques. They collected the cheques from a wardrobe at Horlor’s flat, which she had moved into two days before, and took them to Mr Edwards. Mrs Horlor said her daughter had told her about office procedures. Sometimes people within the office were in and about her desk. She said she had had minimal instruction in the department in her duties as cashier. Mrs Horlor said she had worked in a bank all her working life and found some of the things her daughter told her of what she did at work to be extremely slack. Detective Frank Miessen said that when he interviewed Horlor, she said she did not intend to keep the cheques. She had hoped eventually to bank them and find out where the cash was. Asked why she had not spoken to senior staff on each occasion, she said she believed she would get the blame for taking them. She hoped to get an opportunity to rebank the cheques. However, on her return to work after the New Year she was put on different duties and was not allowed access to the drawer where she had worked before as cashier.