SENTENCE ON WOMAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1940, Page 2

SENTENCE ON WOMAN

FALSE PRETENCES CASE. SYDNEY,. April 24. Judge Hill, in Quarter Sessions yesterday, in sentencing Mary Victoria. Sawdon, 45, to four years’ imprisonment after her conviction for false pretences, said: “You are a dangerous woman to be at large. This is not the first time that you have indulged in similar practices. You were on one occasion given an opportunity to return to Queensland.” Sawdon, who was in a state of collapse, as she was leaving the dock, turned towards the Crown witnesses, who were seated in the rear of the Court, and exclaimed, “I do hope you are all happy now. You are traitors and scoundrels. The sooner I am dead : the better.” Sawdon collapsed 1 completely outside the court-room, and was carried by police officers to an ante room, where she was revived. The accused had been charged with having stolen three cheques for the payment of £631. The jury acquitted her of stealing, but convicted her of false pretences. The Crown alleged that by “subterfuge, lies, promises, and hopeful assertions,” the accused had created in the mind of Mr Duncan Cameron, managing clerk of Sayegh, Cotter, and Company, the belief that she was entitled to about £63,000' from her father’s estate, and that the monej was in Vancouver, Canada, and 1 was coming to her. Detective-Sergeant Corby said that Sawdon was a native of this State, and went to America when she was 20 years of age to join"hei’ father. This was her own statement, but he was iiQt able to confirm it. According to a marriage certificate in her possession, the prisoner married a man named Whitney, in 1932, under the name of Victoria Louise Jones. According to another marriage certificate, she married Harry William Sawdon in 1923, under the name of Mary Victoria Johnson, at San Francisco. She had said that in connection with the marriage with Whitney she was under the influence of liquor at the time. The following day she found that Whitney was very old, and she left him.

MONEY OBTAINED FROM MEN. The detective said it would appear that Sawdon had been living by dishonest means tor a number ot years. She became friendly with different men, and obtained money from them “on the pretence that she was in a certain condition.” On one occasion she had stated that she had had a baby. She was then living at Darlinghurst. She went to Victoria and came back with a baby. She went to an insurance company and signed a proposal to’insure the child. No such child was ever born. This, said the detective, was apparently used to confirm to a certain man that she had actually had a child to fiim. It was found that this was not true. “I have not been able to ascertain whether'she is a daughter of Con Jones,” said the detective, “or whether such a man ever existed or was a millionaire.” When arrested, the detective said, Sawdon had in her possesion a large number of lottery tickets. There were 24 current tickets in a-lottery. It seemed that Sawdon was an inveterate gambler, he declared. ■ Sawdon, who continued her address to the jury from the dock, when the trial was resumed yesterday, said, while holding a handkerchief to her eyes,: “I am penniless, and worse than penniless. I am friendless. All I want is a fair trial, and. British justice. I deny that I have stolen any money.” Sawdon said that people thought that she had money, and that explained their readiness to lend her money. If she had done any wrong, she said, it , was to borrow money.