BARRISTER SENT TO GAOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20601, 27 June 1930, Page 13

BARRISTER SENT TO GAOL.

PAINFUL BRISBANE CASE. CONVERSION OF TRU§T FUNDS. William Thomas Atthow. aged 58, barrister and solicitor, who pleaded guilty to charges of fraudulently converting trust funds amounting to £587 to his own use, and of stealing £ISOO, was sentenced at Brisbane on Juna 12 to two years 1 imprisonment on each charge, the sentences to be concurrent. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. O'Hourke, said that, accused appeared to . hav« bean the victim of a never-ending series of financial misfortunes. The police officer who had reported on tliß matter had said that he wa3 firmly of,, the opinion that neither accused nor anY\raembe|2 of hi a family had reaped any financial benefit from what accused bad done. Mr. A. D. Graham, counsel for Atthow, 3aid that accused never at any time intended to deprive anyone of a single penny, but had been carried away by soma mad infatuation which ha himself was unable to understand., Mr. Justice Henchman, said that,, considering accused's advanced age. otherwise unblemished character, remorse of mind, and bodily suffering,, he would puss a sentence of a comparatively short duration. Thus, the law and the outrage on the honour of the legal profession would be vindicated and accused would be given an opportunity of spending h;s last days in his home "surroundings. He deliberately refrained from passing any sentence of labour.