WELL-CONNECTED NURSE STEALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14691, 27 May 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

WELL-CONNECTED NURSE STEALS.

FAINTS IN THE DOCK.

Declining to see any reason why he should not mete out the same justice to a highly-connected person as to a poor friendly prisoner, said the chairman of the Guildhall, he must pass sentence of a month's imprisonment in the second division upon a nurse who had been known, it was said, as the Hon. Grosvenor Bertha Livoch. for stealing another nurse's watch at' St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The girl, whose age is twenty-four, collapsed in the dock while counsel was stating the facts of the case. She was removed from the court in an unconscious condition. Several hospital nurses were present, who gave her every attention. Her name was given as Bertha Mabel Briggs Livoch, of Westbury Road, Ealing, and it was suggested that she disposed of a quantity of furs and jewellery. She had been a nurse at the hospital, and left on account of illhealth, but continued to visit her hospital friends. For the defence it was said that the accused was highly connected, and an appeal was made to the magistrate to save her from prison. Since childhood, said counsel, she had given her relatives anxiety as to her mental capacity. She had always suffered much from headaches, and it was felt that what was required was that she should be placed in a home with a-view of having corrected in her character that was inexplicable to her friends. The magistrate, however, said he could not accept ,the plea put forward, and attribute the thefts to headaches. They had been far too flagrant.