STOLEN £5 NOTE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 8

STOLEN £5 NOTE

CHARGE OF RECEIVING . CLERK FOUND GUILTY The trial of - Arthur. Dominic Plu n . kett, clerk, aged 40 (Mr. McCarthy) on charges of breaking and entering the Runciman Post Office on August 26, and stealing £29 Is Bd. and of re-' ceiving a £5 note knowing it to hare been stolen, was concluded before -Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court yesterday. Mr. V. .R. Meredith "prosfr cuted for the Crown. Evidence was given by three detectives concerning the arrest of the accused and statements he had made. His explanation of having the £.> note in his possession was that a man .outside the Newmarket Hotel, who said he was prohibited from' entering hotels, asked him to, buy a bottle of brandy for him. Mr. McCarthy submitted that there was no caso tb go to the jarr on the first two counts of breaking into the post office and theft there. Mr. Meredith said lie agreed; tiwA the evidence in support of these charges was slight. His Honor said there was the alternative that 'the accused had not been at the Runciman Post Office at all, and he would direct the jury that it need consider only the third, count. Plunkett made a statement from the dock in which •'he said he had been • staying at the Y.M.C.A. otlfthe nigbt of the breaking and entering and had never left the building. He had never been in Runciman. When the man approached him with a £5 note outside the Newmarket Hotel he had no means of knowing it was > Mr. McCarthy said the whole question was whether this-aian kneir that the note was stolen, and he submitted that on the evidence it was abundantly clear that the accused did. not know. His Honor said the evidence connecting the accused with the breaking and entering and theft was so slight that it would not be safe to convict on either of the first two counts. With regard to the third charge of "receiving, the Crown largely relied on the fact that instead of giving an explanation at once, as an innocent man would, accused gave .the" one now offered only after half an hour's delay; j. After half an hour's retirement the jury found accused, guilty .on,the third count and ho was remanded for sentence. • ■ - '• "