FOUND GUILTY TAXI DRIVERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 34, 10 February 1939, Page 17

FOUND GUILTY

GARAGE ENTERED

TWO MEN CONVICTED

Pleas of not guilty were entered by.! Ronald Thomas Henderson and Ernest Clarence Williams to several charges in the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon. Both the accused were charged with breaking and entering Lawrence Gordon Christie's premises and with theft; -vVith the theft of 8s 2d and a cheque form belonging to Christie; with receiving a cheque form knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained; .with forgery; willi causing J.E. Walsh |to deal with a cheque as if it were j genuine when they knew it was false; and with attempting to cause K. R. Davis to act upon a cheque as if.it iwere genuine when they knew it was ! false. • , Mr. Justice Blair presided. The Crown Prosecutor (Mr. W. H. Cunningham) presented the police casei Mr. R. Hardie Boys appeared for Henderson and-Mr. R.I. M. Sutherland for Williams. CROWN'S CASE. Outlining the Crown's case" Mr. Cunningham said that Christie conducted a rental car business at number 3a Kent Terrace. There was a garage, and inside the garage a lockup office. On the night of October 6 the desk in the office, in which was a cheque book, was locked, and the next morning one of Christie's employees discovered that the place had been broken into. Christie found that 8s 2d had been stolen, and that a signed cheque form was missing from his cheque book. He informed the bank that one of his cheque forms, with his signature on it, had been stolen, and gave the bank the number of the form. '

The accused engaged a room on September 26 on The Terrace, and the landlady would say that they were in their room -ribout 7 a.m. on October 7, Mr. Cunningham continued. About 8.30 o'clock on the same day Williams went into the kitchen and returned a pen and bottle of ink he had borrowed. About 9 o'clock that morning Henderson went to a billiard saloon and saw a man, Walsh. Walsh would say that Henderson asked him to cash a cheque, explaining that he had not time to cash it himself. The cheque was to be cashed at the Bank of New South Wales, Courtenay Place. Walsh was promised 10s if he cashed the cheque, and given 6d tram fare. Walsh went to the bank at 10 o'clock, and though the cheque' was an open cheque, put his. name. on the back. He handed the cheque to the teller, was asked -to wait, and police; Officers arrived. Walsh was asked to explain his possession of the cheque stolen from Christie's.

On . the morning of October 8 Henderson was interviewed by the police,, said Mr. Cunningham. He admitted having been in the billiard saloon the previous, morning, but denied knowledge of the ...forged cheque and that he knew WalshWilliams- was also ■ mterviewe'd about the cheque, and he said he did not know what the police were talking about.

He gave a sample of his handwriting to the police. The police went with Henderson to the residence on The Terrace, and there they found an "Evening Post" .of October 6 on which somebody had been writing, testing tKe word "eleven." There were three words, one of which was "elven." Henderson denied that he and Williams had any pen or ink in the room and denied any knowledge of the "Evening Post." The cheque was made out for £11 3s 2d, and "elyen" was spelt on it. A handwriting expert would say that the writing (other than Christie's) on the cheque, the writing on the "Evening Post," and the specimen of writing given by Williams had all been written by jthe same person. The case for the Crown largely rested on the inference to be drawn from the facts which would be proved. Evidence was called in substantiation of the Crown's case. CHEQUE FROM "DARKY." Jack Edward Walsh gave evidence of. having presented the cheque at the bank at the request of a man, "Darky," who, he said, was Henderson. Mr. Boys: Is it true that at the police station you were shown a photograph of Henderson with no hat on?— Yes. • You did not identify the person in that photo as the "Darky" who had given you the cheque?—l wasn't surd about it. There was no identification parade? —No. "Darky," said the witness, was not at the saloon when he returned from the bank with the police. Robert McVay, billiard saloon proprietor, said he saw Walsh and Henderson talking in his saloon on the morning of October 7. Henderson produced a pink notebook from his pocket and they both examined it Then Walsh put it in his pocket and they left the room together. To Mr. Boys: He did not see Henderson give Walsh a cheque. Samuel Hall, an employee of the Post and Telegraph Department, expressed the opinion that the writing; on the newspaper and that on the j cheque were identical with Williams's writing. N ' The case was Concluded yesterday afternoon. Addressing the jury, Mr. Hardie Boys submitted that there was nothing to show that the cheaue was burgled. Assuming it was, then the whole of the Crown's case rested on the truth or otherwise of Walsh's evidence. ; He contended .that no reliance could be placed on Walsh's evidence. The Crown had left vital gaps in the case, and the jury was invited to jump over those gaps. Mr. Sutherland said that in the majfe of improbability which the [Crown called its case there, was no , evidence to convict Williams. As far |as the handwriting was concerned, the jury was as capable of forming an opinion as the expert was.

After a retirement of about an hour and twenty minutes the jury found the accused guilty of breaking and entry and theft, of forgery, and of uttering to Walsh. They were remanded for sentence.