MISSING FUNDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23334, 28 October 1937, Page 2

MISSING FUNDS

FALSE ENTRIES AND THEFT FORMER SECRETARY FOUND GUILTY LIST OF FIFTEEN CHARGES The trial of Roy Drummond Bachop, a former secretary of the Triumph Lodge, No. 9, of the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society of Australasia, against whom were preferred 15 charges involving the theft of funds belonging to the lodge, and falsification of balance sheets, was concluded yesterday in the Supreme Court before his Honor Mr Justice Kennedy. Eight of the counts in the indictment were in respect of the alleged embezzlement, between June, 1935, and March, 1937, of a total sum of £lB4 15s 2d, the remaining seven covering the making of false entries in balance sheets. Mr F. B. Adams conducted the case for the Crown and Mr C. J. L. White represented the accused, who pleaded not guilty. The hearing went on until late in the afternoon, and the jury, after a brief retirement, brought in a verdict of guilty on all counts. Continuing his evidence. James Robb, a former treasurer of the Triumph Lodge, produced receipts for moneys received by the accused which were nowhere acknowledged in the ledger. John Wood Thorburn, a motor driver, stated that he became a member of Triumph Lodge in December, 1932, his contributions being 9s 9d per quarter. Witness then detailed how he had paid his dues to the accused. Evidence of a similar nature was given by Robert Cleeve Collins, a gardener. Detective Sergeant Hall gave evidence that the accused had come to the detective office and intimated that he desired to admit certain defalcations. The accused then signed a statement to this effect, but told witness that some of his friends had advised him to make no admission. He was sick of the whole business, however, and wanted to get the matter cleared up. In his statement he confessed to having taken from the lodge funds £SOB 0s 3d, but of this amount he had refunded £lls. Since then the accused had never suggested to witness that any portion of his statement was incorrect, nor did he ever indicate that he had difficulty in keeping the books of the lodge. This concluded the case for the Crown. Mr White intimated that he did not intend calling evidence for the defence.

Addressing the jury, Mr Adams submitted that the facts on which each count rested had been fully substantiated. Every figure and date had been proved by clear testimony. The accused's statement made it perfectly clear that he continually dipped into the lodge funds and that he was a thief guilty of embezzlement. This was on his own admission. The Crown Prosecutor reviewed the groups of charges in detail, and said that the entries made by the accused showed that he was quite capable of keeping the books. Therefore, the shortages arose out of ths accused's dishonesty. He concealed his defalcations by over-esti-mating the amounts held on mortgage. Had an inquiry been made into the exact sums due on mortgages in the first place, his scheme would have collapsed like a house of cards. That inquiry, however, was not made, and he went on systematically plundering the funds of the lodge over a period of years, until his depredations reached a total of between £SOO and £6OO. Moreover, the confession made by the accused to the police had not afterwards been qualified nor disclaimed by him. The jury, Mr White said in his address, must have been struck by the fact that the indictment had taken 10 minutes to read over, which showed that the Crown had used the utmost imagination in bringing every conceivable count against the accused in the hope of finding him guilty on one or other of them. Referring to the theft charges, counsel emphasised that it must be shown that there was, on the accused's part, a deliberate intention to steal, and with regard to the false entries it had to be shown that the accused made these intending to defraud the lodge. The offences may have been due to neglect, carelessness, or the interference of others. There was such a thing as civil liability for neglect and if the accused were guilty of this the lodge was entitled to sue him. As the jury had seen, the books were in a hopelessly muddled condition, and almost anything might have happened when the quarterlv balances were being found. Once carelessness or neglect in the receipt of money entered into a secretaryship that was the beginning of trouble, and counsel suggested that this was what had happened in the case of the accused. The books would have been difficult enough for a public accountant to have kept, but, in addition to this duty, the accused had many other matters to attend to. Without actusjly being dishonest, a man could get a lodge or any other organisation into an appalling financial muddle, and this was probably what had happened to Bachop. It was absurd that a lodge requiring such an intricate system of book-keeping should appoint a man with the qualifications of the accused as its secretary. It appeared to have been an act of folly on the part of the lodge to appoint the accused in the first place and an act of folly on his part to accept the appointment, more especially as at no time did he receive from the other officers of the lodge such assistance as he should have been given. His Honor summed up, and the jury retired at 4 p.m., to return 50 minutes Mer with a verdict of guilty on all charges. Bachop was remanded in custody until Friday for sentence.