A BOGUS JOCKEY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 27, 1 February 1924, Page 8

A BOGUS JOCKEY

VAGRANTS SENT TO GAOL

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST POLICE.

' Through accepting the assurance of two young- men of 'diminutive build that one of them was a jockey and proposed riding on the first day of the recent Trentham Meeting, a taxi-driver was the loser to the extent of £2 4*, and the manner of his loss was described at the Magistrate's Court to-day, when the two offenders, Stanley George Gibb and Arthur Paulsen, appeared on charges of misrepresentation before Mr. E. Page, S,M. The pair also had to answer to charges of vagrancy and of trespassing on the racecourse. During the'hearing of, the case, the defendants made repeater 1 allegations against the police of having received rough' treatment prior to their signing what they described as "forced statements.". These allegations were denied by the officers concerned. Senior-Detective Cameron appeared for the police, and the accused were not rep-resented-by counsel. William Henry Trengrove, a taxi proprietor, said that the accused spoke to him at Lambton Station, asked him if he were going out to Trentham, and inquired his fare. Witness replied that he was going to the course, and Gibb then represented that Paulsen was a jockey who had about £50 to draw from his employer when he; reached the course. The* pair had been "out on the rantan" the previous night, however, and would not be able to pay the fare until Pauken got his money. They agreed to allow, witness to take several other passengers, and the party eventually arrived at Trentham. Here, before leaving, Gibb promised that Paulsen would "put him on to several winners." A little later Paulsen came hurriedly up to witness and said, "Oh, the boss is looking after the mare jnst at present, so I can't get my money for a moment. How much have you got on you? I must get on this race, and I'll give you another pound for a loan of whatever you've got. You'll do well out of us to-day, but hurry up, be-, cause I've got'to ride." ,

"I thought that' he was!a jockey, and everything would be all right," went on the witness, :"so I gave him the. two pound notes and the four shillings that I had collected from the other,fares. He hurried. aw.ay, but I later thought that it was a Bit too good, so I told Detective Walker—after I had waited about an hour and a half."

. Detective Walker described his arrest of the accused, and' added that when interviewed, Paulsen,admitted having represented himself to be a jockey. He had no money to pay for the hire of the' taxi, and had no "boss" from whom he was to collect the £50 mentioned. He added that .he and Gibb had been "doing the hotels;" Paulsen himself saying he was a jockey. and wag' riding at Trentham. By this means, they admitted they had obtained £30 from different persons. The witness read the written statements, j : "Have you any questions to put to the witness?" inquired the Magistrate of Gibb. "Yes, I want to say that those were forced statements. He wrote them down himself, and everything in them\is untrue," returned the accused. The Magistrate: "Have you any questions,. Paulsen V The-accused Paulsen: "Yes, I want to say." a lot about being knocked about by Dtectiyee Cooper and Walker. (To the witness) : "You asked me to make a statement?" : „.:■■. . Witness: "I asked you to make an ex-; planation." . . : "Did you not say that you would make a mess if I did not tell the truth?"— "No.;1 ... ... .'.. „, "Didn't you give me a punch on the nose to begin with ?"—"I saw you receive a scratch on the nose when you tried to get out of the window." The Magistrate: "Did he try to escape?" Witness: "Yes, he tried to get away from the station on two'occasions." The accused Paulsen: "Didn't Detective Cooper grab me by the aifni while youishook your fist in my face?" '■' Witness:^ "No such tiling." "Yxia. wrote down that aWiut the £30 and made me sign it?"— "I wrote at your dictation." "What about you wanting me to admit I was a pickpocket. Wasn't I in a dazed condition, and didn't I say that I would sign anything if only you would let me alone?"—"\ou made the statement and signed it." "Do you think that any sane man would make the admissions you say that I did?" \ .-."' '; ■'■... Detective Sinclair, who escorted the accused from Trentham, said that Paulsen attempted to escape at Lambtoh Station,, but he was recaptured and taken away safely with his associate. -Both men, according to Racecourse Inspector Ward, knew that they were excluded from all courses. Neither man was a jockey, and witness was well acquainted with the antecedents of both. This concluded the case for the prosecution. . •' ■ <: -.- . ■ The accused Pauken, making a statement from the dock, -said he caino down from Auckland on i2th January. He had been in the same employment for the past eleven years—except, he added, for the fifteen months he had spent in .Mount Eden Gaol. Gibb claimed to have been constantly employed as a harvester in the South Island prior to coming to Wellington. The Senior-Detective handed up substantial lists of the previous, convictions of both men and referred to the bad company they were in , the habit of kepeing,. > The Magistrate said he was of the opinion that both men had acted in concert to defraud the complainant Tren-' grove, and on this charge sentenced each to six months' imprisonment. A further concurrent three months was imposed on the .vagrancy-charge in the case ,of each defendant, with fines of iilO, in default one month's imprisonment; on the charges of trespassing on the racecourse.