A RUSSIAN “CROOK”

Evening Star, Issue 18032, 28 July 1922, Page 7

A RUSSIAN “CROOK”

AUSTRALIAN WIDOW FASCINATED. , USED TO ISSUE COUNTERFEIT ' COINS. Every eye in the General Sessions yesterday *(says the (Melbourne ‘Age’ of July 6) was fixed upon the tall, straight figure of Victor Le Merto (Russian artist, woman fascinator, and alleged) maker and utterer of counterfeit coin) as, with a sentence of eighteen months pressing upon his almost youthful shoulders (he is twenty-seven), ho turned and fixed a long, lingering, cold gaze upon Ethel May Hyams, a dark young widow, who bad left the criminal dock under a merciful reprieve and taken her ; seat in the corner of the court beside her I brother awaiting the making of the bond ! of £SO, whose signing was to signalise her release. She did not look up, and the Russian, with flushed face and tight-drawn lips, passed on to the court cells below. Ethel Hyams, it was explained to the court; had until recently been known as a respectable woman, living with her (parents at Albert Park. Her husband was killed at the war. Her little daughter is eleven years old. To the parents’ house there came to lodge Le Merto, the Russian artist, whose peculiar flow of broken English was not the least of his accomplishments. Ho admittedly fascinated the widow. The police alleged that she occupied a room at the house at Black Rock. The woman denied this in court yesterday. She dept at the house, she said, only one night, when it was too wet to go home. The counterfeit florins, she said, were given to her by Taylor, to whom she was introduced by Le Merto, Taylor, she confessed to the police in.ja statement (produced in court), told her u at ho could make coin so well that even the banks would accept it. Moreover, he said lie could 1 do it without defrauding tne public, because the public would be aoie to pass the coins on without Uhs L> PscH “How do you do it?’’ she asked. Ho replied: “I will give you some.'’ He gave her twelve “florins,” and she took them, not thinking she was doing viong. She met Le Merto by appointment, and he went with her to Malvern, wneie she had to do some shopping.-. She c shod a number of the “ florins ” at various shops, and gave Le Merto the email change, j Plain-clothes Constable G. F. Bodley i who, together with Constables Morgan and Dodemaido, made the investigations, detailed the movements of the woman in Malvern. The police story was confirmed by various witnesses. i 'ln reply to Mr Maxwell, who (instructed '.by Mr Sonenberg) appeared for Mrs Hyams, Constable Bodley said) that Mrs Hyams had given the police every assistance sauce her arrest, and investigations made had shown that she was a decent reputable woman before she came under Le Merto’s influence.1 At this stage ’Mr Maxwell asked perj mission for his clerk to consult Mrs Hyams 'in the dock. Permission was grained, and, after a brief consultation, Mrs Hyams j changed her plea from one of not guilty to one of guilty. The case then proceeded against Le Merto alone. Charles E. A. Price, Government Analyst, said that the coins wore made of base metal—tin, antimony, lead-, and a trace of copper. They weighed 128 grains each, whereas the real florin weighed 174 i grains. They were dated 1921, and wm tg-CEtMasa*

Le Merto put Mrs Hyams into tho witness box to testify on his behalf. She said that she was' under the impression that tho florin the police got from Lo Merle’s pocket was a good coin. Mr Gnrnor (Crown .Prosecutor) : Now, look here, Mrs Hyams, are you not infatuated with Le Merto? Are you not in love with him? ’

Mrs Hyams (in lowered voice): At one time I did like liinr. , How long ago?—Six months. A coldness has been growing between us latterly. , Has Le Merto threatened you ?—Several times. . How?—Ho threatened to throw _ vitriol at me Once. On another occasion he threatened to kill me, and once he did almost choke me.

Still, you have been friendly with him since?—t was friendly because I was afraid to bo otherwise. Are you afraid to give evidence against him now?—Not at the present moment. Do you fear the consequences?—l would not like to be answerable to him for my evidence. . Lo, Merto addressed the jury -fluently in broken English, staring fixedly at each juryman in turn. He got the amah silver from the woman, ho said. He did not tender anv counterfeit coin. The com tho police found on him was a good coin. Judge Dethridgo, addressing the Jury, said it would be. an amazing thing if the law provided that the instrument used for uttering counterfeit coin was alone punishable, while the man who encouraged the tendering could not be punished. It was for the jury to determine tho facts, which he outlined. He invited them to do their duty. The jurv, after a brief retirement, returned a.'verdict of guilty against Lo Merto. , , , _ ~ , Judge Dethridgo addressed Le. Merto, “The jury have found you guilty," Jo said, “and, I think, quite properly. The evidence shows overwhelmingly that you used this woman as an instrument, which makes your offence morally greater than if you had yourself actually tendered the coins. You were, however, associated with the woman in tendering the corns—you encouraged her —and that is sufficient in the eyes of the law. The maximum sentence' is two years. I have some doubt whether I should not inflict it upon you. But I will not. Nevertheless, I will give you a stiff sentence, having-regard Jo tho dangerous nature of tho crime. Eighteen months’ imprisonment.” On behalf of Mrs Hyams, Mr Maxwell pleaded that she was obviously a victim of Le Merto’s influence—a threatening inflm ence. The case was peculiarly ono upon which His Honor might exercise the leniency of tho law by releasing the woman on 'her own bond.

Judge Dethridgo adopted counsel’s suggestion, and released Mrs Hyams on her own and her brother’s bond for £SO to be of good behaviour for twelve mouths.