FORGED MEDICAL DEGREE

Evening Star, Issue 22689, 1 July 1937, Page 16

FORGED MEDICAL DEGREE

ADMISSION BY ACCUSED COMPANY MANAGER'S FOLLY [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, June 30. A charge of attempting to cause a person to act on a forged degree as genuine was preferred against Fergus Stanley Hickey, aged 38, company manager, in the Police Court before Mr J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., to-day. Charles John Drake, chief clerk in the Health Department, said the accused was written to last September that a complaint hs-J been received that he was practisi'e;; as a medical practitioner, and that his name did not appear on the New Zealand register. The accused rang the office in reply and left a message for witness. Last February, in consequence of a further complaint that the accused was examining candidates for life insurance, the matter was referred to the police. In reply to the September letter the accused left a message that his diplomas had been lost in the Manuka, and that he would register later. In March he called on witness and said Detectivesergeant Doyle had interviewed him, and that he had qualified at the University of Melbourne in 1921. He produced a certificate purporting to be under the hand pf the registrar of that university. This certificate was the subject of the charge, and was produced by witness. The accused at the time said he was not practising, and asked if the department was satisfied as to the documentary evidence. Witness replied that the department would be satisfied pioviding ho did not practise without being on the register in New Zealand. The accused left, saying that he was going to the detective office to show the certificate to Detective-ser-geant Doyle. On June 8, in response to a telephone call, the accused called to seo witness with a certificate, which was taken possession of by the police.. To counsel, witness said the accused had not at any time made application for registration. Expert testimony was given by a handwriting expert that the certificate was a traced forgeay. Detective-sergeant Doyle said that the accused, on being told his name appeared in the telephone directory as the medical officer of the Dominion Life Assurance Company, replied that he had occupied the position of general manager for 10 years, but he was not responsible for the listing in the directory. His home telephone number was a private one, as had been pointed out to the Post and Telegraph Department. Ho gave an undertaking to have his name removed from the directory list. In response to another question, ho said that ho was the only medical man in the office, and that he had obtained the degree of M.R.C.S. in London in' 1920 or 1921, hut had never been in practice in New Zealand or elsewhere. Ho did not examine people for life insurance purposes more than to peruse and accept or reject the medical reports submitted by other medical men. Witness failed to find the accused’s name in the register of the Royal College of Surgeons, and interviewed him again. The accused said he did not tell witness he had obtained a degree at London, but at Melbourne. What he had meant to say was that he had sat for the degree in London and had -failed. Later, bn March 25. the accused brought along the certificate produced. As a result of inquiries at Melbourne, witness obtained possession of the certificate oh June 8, and on June 14 he saw the accused at the hospital. The accused said his life had been ruined through his own foolishness. He had taken poison, and admitted that the certificate was a forgery. Hickey pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. On a" charge of attempted suicide, to which he also pleaded guilty, the accused was convicted and ordered to come np for sentence if called upon.