AN ERRING CUSTOMS CLERK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20289, 23 December 1927, Page 10

AN ERRING CUSTOMS CLERK.

POSITION OF TRUST ABUSED

THREE YEARS’ REFORMATIVE DETENTION.

(Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, December 22

Three years’ reformative detention was the sentence imposed by Mr Justice Reed in the Supreme Court to-day upon Wil liam Patrick Kelleher, agea 29, second cleik in the Auckland office of the Customs Department, who pleaded guilty to steal ing sums totalling approximately £950, the property of the Government. in a statement made at the time of iiis arres T the accused alleged that lie nad been blackmailed and that' he had misap piopriated money entrusted to him in Older to meet the demands of toe blackmailer. He refused to give the man's name, nor was it forthcoming in court to-day. Mr G. P. Finlay, who appeared for the accused, said that Kelieher still assured him that the story was true, to which his Honor replied: “ If that is so there is no reason why he should not disclose the name to the police. A blackmailer is the worst criminal you can have.”

Mr Finlay: He declines to divulge the name, but suggests that there were more than one. Making a nlea for leniency on Kelleher’s behalf, counsel said the case was a very painful one. The accused came of an honourable family, and was himself a married man. The crime of which he had been giylty had carried with it a large measure of inherent punishment. Prisoner had been living in a hell of torment, ending in disgrace, and now on the eve of Christmas he was tom from his family. The type of theft of which he had been guilty was a neculiar one. for oneje he had given way to temptation he was practically compelled to continue o order to avoid detection.

His Honor: I don’t think so. He has deliberately taken this money and spent it. Mr Finlay: But by the, system he adopted he had to go on taking more in order to cover up nis defalcations. His Honor: I am afraid 1 don’t follow your line of reasoning, Mr Finlay. What salary was he receiving? Mr Finlay: £320 a year. His Honor: And apparently living at the rate of £IOOO a year. 'Where has the money gone? Mr S. L. Paterson (Assistant Crown Prosecutor) : He lost it on horse racing, ' think, sir.

Mr Finlay That he denies, your Honor. Passing sentence, his Honor said that defalcations of money bv public servants in positions of trust were very serious offences. The majority of such cases were thefts by young men, but in Kelleher’s case th e circumstances were different. The fact that he held an important position of trust meant that his work was not subject to the same amount of scrutiny as that which others might receive. In the circumstances the penalty must be a heavy one.