A YOUTHFUL OFFENDER

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 14, 16 July 1919, Page 5

A YOUTHFUL OFFENDER

CHARGE OF THEFT.

A youth, named Charles Percy Chase, appeared on1 ljemand in the Magistrate's Court this morning, t on charges of theft of Government moneys. Mr. P. W. Jackson appeared for the accused. '; Chief-Detective Boddam said accused was a cadet in the Immigration Dept., and was 17 years of age. Lately it hail been discovered that a cheque of £36 and various other sums had been missed, and it was alleged that accused had. opened a registered letter, ■ which enclosed a cheque fpr £36, and sent another letter in its place. Hector D. Thomson, head of the Immigration Department, said. accused had been employed since Ist April, 1919. He produced a.cash-box, which he said had contained a cheque for £36, made out for the purpose of bringing out one O'Connell to New Zealand. The letter was registered, and he next found that it was sent back through the Dead Letter Office. He detailed other matters in connection with the affair. He also produced a receipt for a reginbered letter. On 24th June he received the sum of £24 in his office per registered letter. It should have been banked on the following day. On the week's cash being made up there was a deficiency of £10. On examining the deposit slip of 25th June, he found that there was a deficiency in the deposit of £10. On 4th July he left the office at 4.20 p.m. His desk, which was locked, contained a cashbox, in which were £29 in cash and a bank receipt for £16 10s, a oheque for £28, and money orders for £13 and £1. On going to the office the next morning, he found that this" roller-top desk had been ransacked, and the contents were strewn about the. room. . The contents of the cashbox had disappeared. Accused worked in an adjoining room, but had access to witness's office. ' In answer to Mr. Jackson, ( witness said the Department was short of £77, and he, understood that £24 had been paid back. Accused received a salary of £108 a year. Detective-Sergeant Scott said'that on sth July he interviewed accused, who, in the course of a statement, said he got to the office at 8.30 on the morning o{ the alleged theft and found Mr. Thorn son's desk open. He was not responsible for what had occurred. On two occasions he had found the office door closed, but not locked. Later; witness again spoke to accused, who admitted his responsibility for the thefts, stating that he hadused the money to pay''some accounts. When he left the office on the evening of the offence* he left the door open, and returned later and opened the desk and the cash-box. His parents were dead, and he had been hard up. Witness added that on seeing accused at his lodgings, accused lifted up a spouting and extracted the sum of £24. Accused pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. ; An application for bail was refused.