CONFESSION TO POLICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19952, 20 November 1926, Page 22

CONFESSION TO POLICE

ALLEGATIONS OF BLUFF. YOUNG WOMAN’S STORY. DISBELIEVED BY MAGISTRATE. (Special to Dailt Times.) AUCKLAND. November 18. “I refuse to believe that an experienced detective like Mr Lambert or the other officer, too. for that matter, would be party to a ‘bluff’ to induce a young woman to make a confession of an offence of which she was innocent, and I am going to convict the young woman.’’ With these words, Mr F. K, Hunt, S.M.. brought to a close in the Police Court this morning a case presenting some remarkable features. A girl, of 20 years, charged with the theft of £7, the property of her father, set up as a defence that Detective Lambert induced her to sign a statement confessing her guilt, and that she would not have signed it had he not threatened to take her to the police station, and hold out further that, as the case was a family matter, nothing more would be heard ol it if she cleared it up. It was shown in evidence that the father of the girl placed a £5 note and two single notes in an envelope on July 17 and gave the letter to his daughter to post. The letter, which was addressed to a bank, failed to reach its destination, and the father lodged a complaint with the Post and Telegraph Department. The father stated that he had no reason to doubt his daughter’s word. At the time when she posted the letter she was living at borne, but for the past two or three months had been in a position in the city. Detective Lambert produced a statement written by himself and signed by the accused. In the statement the girl admitted having retained the money for her own use. and stated that she had cashed the £5 note. She expressed regret for having caused so much trouble. The d_eteclive. said he interviewed the accused m company with Constable Carroll, who was attached to the detective taff. Mr A. H. Johnstone, who entered a plea of not guilty on the girl’s behalf, _ questioned Detective Lambert as to the circumstances of the interview which had taken place in the root garden at the Auckland Infirmary, where accused was a probationer nurse. The interview lasted an hour and a-quarter. ’ . Counsel; I suggest to you that it took two hours Detective Lambert: Not more than an hour and a-quarter. Counsel: I suggest that you used every possible persuasion to get her to make this statement. Did you not question her for a solid hour on end? Witness said ho questioned the girl for a time, and then wrote out a statement _ It, was a slow job. as there were no facilities fnr writing, other than the top of a tank. There was a high wind blowing at the time. , Counsel: You swear you did not say that if she did not make a statement you would take her to the police station. Witness: The only thing I said about the police station was thst we usually asked people to accompany us there to make a statement. Constable Carroll stated in evidence that he did not remember having heard Deteo tive Lambert say anything about the police station. , , „ . , Counsel; Was it suggested to the girl that if she made a statement it would be the end of it by reason of the fact that it was a family matter? Witness: So far as I can remember. Detective Lambert said, “It may be the end of it.” T Counsel ; I want you to remember. 1 take it you were there as a witness. . The Magistrate; They usually hunt m couples, you know. Counsel; I am not familar with their methods. . . , Chief Detective Cummings: It is essential that they should in view of the serious allegations, sir. . . , Replying to Mr Cummings Constable Carroll said it took Detective Lambert minutes to write out the statement. Mr Hunt: First of all she point blank denied keeping the money. . , Constable Carroll; Ye i sir. First she said she had given the letter to the mail carrier, then she said she never posted the letter. She raid she had _ kept the money and spent it foolishly, being unable to show anything for it. Mr Hunt: Did she break down? Witness: Yes, and she cried slightly.. Mr .Johnstone said the girl was positive that she neither got the money nor that she made the statement of her own tree will. She signed the statement because she thought she would be taken away to the police station if she refused. Mie also thought that if she signed it she would hear no more of the mattei. Accused, who said she was 20 years of, age and a probationer nurse, stated that it bad been her custom when living at home to take the househokl letters, together with those 7M the neighbours, and post them in the mail car when it_ came round. The house was situated in an area served by a rural delivery ear. She had posted the letter containing the money in the bos on the car. The money fm registration had been given her, but sue forgot to register it, as she was in a hurry. “When Detective Lambert called be asked where we could go for a quiet talk, and I took him ur> to the roof garden said accused. “When 1m asked me if 1 had kept the letter T said. No. I Posted it, and he said. ‘Come on now, that is no good. You have got to make some sort of a statement.’ He told me it was up to me to clear the matter up, otherwise he would have to take me to the police station, and I would have to .make my statement there. He also said; Good Lord! It is not likely vour father would take this to court, is it? and he started to tell me other instances where everything had been all right. He told me about a young married woman who had stolen some clothes, and to whom he had talked for two solid hours. The Magistrate; You wrote to your father straight away and told him you had admitted it. , Accused: Yes. I told him the truth To Chief Detective Cummings; i told my father the truth. . , Chief Detective Cummings: That is what y °Accused: The truth that I am innocent. The Magistrate; Then all this _ (showing the statement) is Mr Lambert’s invention, ' S Mr Johnstone suggested that the circumstances under which the statement had been obtained cast considerable doubt on its genuineness. . Mr Hunt: Oh! I do not know. It is difficult to conceive that she would put her hand to this statement if she were innocent. There is no suggestion of threat that she was going to be arrested. 1 am loth to think that an experienced detective would be partv to a bluff to get a girl convicted. Either this girl took the monev, or the postal woman, or someone else. She says she cashed the £5 note. I am going to convict her and suppress her name, and order her to come up for sentence when called upon. _ Mr Hunt expressed surprise when tne chief detective made an appplication tor a restitution order. , . . “Well. sir. the father is claiming on the Post and Telegraph Department for the money.” said the Chief Detective. • Tho Magistrate: Oh. is he? Then I will make a formal mvW for restitution.