THEFT FROM COUNCIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 131, 30 November 1939, Page 15

THEFT FROM COUNCIL

PROBATION FOR WOMAN

Doris Jones,.a clerk, of Waipukurau, who pleaded guilty at Napier to stealing sums of money totalling £637 11 s from the Waipukurau County Council, was admitted to probation for two years, by Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court today.

Mr. W. E. Leicester,; in asking for probation, said that the social consequences were far more disastrous for a wdman than for a man, and the task of rehabilitation was more difficult. His Honour said he had found in his experience that it was useless to order, restitution, when there was no possibility of it being made, though he would have liked to have ordered it in this case. He" was confident that the prisoner would fulfil the confidence that had been placed in her by graiiting probation. In all cases where misappropriation had continued over a period of years and had been committed by a person in a position of trust, it was almost the invariable rule that the benefit of probation was not allowed. It was true that in this case the misappropriation had continued over a long period, but punishment as a deterrent had little application. A great many women occupied such positions of trust, and one might call the present case one of a kind which was very rare indeed. The young woman prior to the offence had led a perfectly blameless life and her home conditions were in every,"respect admii*-' able. .'". . .■■ ':.'. ■■■■■■:{■'■".•■ ■■'.: . . ■■■.