CHARGE OF FORGERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22710, 24 October 1935, Page 6

CHARGE OF FORGERY

SUM OF £lO INVOLVED ACCUSED PLEADS NOT GUILTY Pleas of not guilty were entered by Douglas Frederick Stancombe in the Supreme Court yesterday, when he was charged with that on or about June 1 he forged a Post Office Savings Bank withdrawal slip for £10; that, knowing it to be forged, he caused the Postmastergeneral to act on it as if it were genuine; that with intent to defraud by false pretences he obtained from the Post-master-general the sum of £lO. The accused was represented by Mr G. T. Baylee. Outlining the case, the Crown Prosecutor (Mr F. B. Adams) said the three charges arose out of the one transaction, but they were not alternative charges, and the jury might convict the accused on all three. The evidence would showthat the accused on May 31 went to the premises of a Mrs Hughes in Princes street and asked for board, stating that he had no money at the time. She agreed to take him in for the night. He did not get up for breakfast the following morning and left at 10.45 a.m. He returned at 4.30 p.m. and paid 3s for his tea and bed of the night before. It was not till some time afterwards that the crime was discovered. The lady of the house had a son who kept a Post Office Savings Bank hook in his bedroom. That was subsequently found to, have disappeared. It also transpired that on June 1, the day following the night on which the accused slept in the house, a sum of £lO way withdrawn from the Post Office out of the sum lying to the son's credit. The accused was not arrested until, some time later, he was apprehended in Auckland. He gave specimens of his handwriting, which had been examined by an expert, who would say that the withdrawal slip was forged aiid was in the handwriting of the accused. At this stage the court adjourned till this morning.