REFUGEE DEFRAUDED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24945, 18 June 1942, Page 2

REFUGEE DEFRAUDED

SOLDIER BEFORE COURT COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE A diamond and sapphire-studded gold mesh purse valued at £l5O formed the principal exhibit in connection with two charges of theft and two of false pretences which were brought in the City Police Court yesterday against Rupert Halls Taylor, aged 36, formerly a rad:o salesman, but now a staff sergeant in the military forces. .. u ' ... The complainant in three of the charges was a domestic, a Jewish refugee, and Taylor was charged with having stolen from her the sum of £45 and the purse and obtained £SO from her by false pretences He was also charged with having obtained bv false pretences the sum of £29 10s from Robert Heenan Simpson. The accused pleaded guilty to all four charges, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Mr H. J. Dixon was on the Bench, and Chief Detective Holmes conducted the prosecution. A ... • j • The complainant said she arrived in Dunedin at the end of 1938 as a Jewish refugee from Germany. She first met the accused in February, 1941, and became friendly with him. and he told her that he was married, but that he was separated from his wife. She lent him £SO, and later, on the pretext that he was going to pav their fares to National Park, where they proposed to spend a ski-ing holiday. he borrowed a further £45. The trip did not take place, but the accused had not returned the money, although he had been asked for it on several occasions. The £SO was handed'over when the accused represented that he had to pay a fine of that, amount or go to gaol. Hedid not exactly ask for the money, but witness believed that she was the only one who could help him. In September, 1941, witness continued, the accused told her that he wanted to buv a and put it in her name. and thev went to Balclutha and inspected a business. He decided, however, not to buy The accused said he could raise a loan on a gold purse and a diamond pendant which she owned, and she agreed to let him have the jewellery on condition that if a loan were raised it must be registered in her name. He gave her a written agreement to this effect. After about two weeks, the accused brought the jewellery back and, telling her that he had been unsuccessful in raising a loan, took it away again, against her wishes. He subsequently told her that it was in a bank, and secured in her name. In February last she received a letter from him from a military camp, but it was not until May that she learned he had disposed of the bag. Detective Berry read a statement in which the accused admitted having pawned the bag for £6O and used the money to pay debts. He had, he said, made arrangements to have the pendant returned to the complainant. In the statement, the accused also admitted having told the complainant that if he could get a divorce he would marry her. Robert Heenan Simpson gave evidence of having in February last, at the accused's request, redeemed a gold purse which had been pledged by the accused for £6O at a pawnbroker's office. The accused represented that the purse wat his own property and a family heirloom, and witness redeemed the bag for £65 10s and advanced him a further £29 103 on it, conditional on his repaying £lO6 at the rate of £1 a week.