CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26117, 2 April 1946, Page 8

CITY POLICE COURT

Monday, April 1 (Before Mr H. W. Bundle. S.M ) Casting Offensive Matter Eric Stanway was fined £1 and costs (10s) for casting offensive matter in a public place. Motorist Charged For driving without due care and attention Raymond Shaw Campbell was fined £2 and costs (10s). Theft of Chaff Two youths, aged 18 years, whose names were suppressed, pleaded guilty to the theft of a sack of chaff valued at 6s 6d.— Chief Detective T. Y. Hall said that the owner of the sack of chaff left it beside a haystack on his property at Vauxhall on the morning of March 31, and at 1 p.m. the same day it was missing. He saw the two accused driving a trotting horse along the road in a jogger and when he spoke to them he saw a sack of chaff in the back of the jogger. The accused were subsequently interviewed by the police and one of them said that he had taken the chaff because he had no feed for a horse he was looking after.—Mr I. B. Stevenson said that neither of the accused stood to gain anything from their foolish act, and neither had previously been before the court.—The accused were convicted and placed on probation for 12 months Forgery Admitted Francis George Adams, aged 19, a rabbiter, was charged with forging a Post Office Savings Bank withdrawal receipt for £lO by signing the name of C. 1. Guffie with the intention that the receipt should be acted upon as if it were genuine. Chief Detective Hall conducted the case for the police and Mr C. H. S. Stevens represented the accused. —Edward Andrew Robertson, a clerk at the Post Office Savings Bank, said that on February 18 he was presented with a Savings Bank book in the name of Clarence Inder Guffie, and a withdrawal receipt for £lO, signed “C. I. Guffie." The specimen signature held at the bank did not correspond with that on the withdrawal receipt. and he advised the senior clerk of the fact. The senior clerk asked the accused, who had presented the bank book and the receipt, if the account was his and the accused said it was. Eventually, however, he admitted that it was not, but that he was withdrawing the money for a friend with whom he lived.— To Mr Stevens witness said that the attempt to use Guffie’s signature was very amateurish—Colin Affleck McLay, senior clerk in the Money Order and Savings Bank Department in the. Dunedin Post Office, said that when he saw the accused on February 18 he showed him C. I. Guide's bank book and the withdrawal receipt and asked him if it was his account. He then told the accused that the signature on the withdrawal slip bore no resigned C. I. Guffie. The signature was by the bank, and that the withdrawal could not be allowed. The accused then said he was withdrawing the money on behalf of the depositor, with whom he boarded. Witness impounded the bank book and withdrawal slip, and informed his superiors.—Clarence Inder Guffie, a metal-worker's assistant, said he lived at 145 Forth street. The accused shared a room with him. Witness was in the-habit of keeping his Savings Bank book in a drawer in the bedroom. He left tfie boarding house at 7.40 a.m. on *ebiuary 18, when, so far as he knew, the bank book was in its usual place On the afternoon of the same day the witness McLav showed him a withdrawal recept signed C. I. Guffie. The signature was not his, and he had given no h ®H,u lo to anyone to take his bank book and make out a withdrawal receipt fo> £ 10. He spoke to the accused, who told him he had taken the bank book from the drawer and tried to withdraw £lO from it The accused said he had intended to tell witness about it afterwards.—To Mr Stevens witness said he had known the j'tcused for a number of years. If be had asked witness for the loan of £lO he would have given it to him.—Constable C J. Crawford of Roxburgh, said that on March 13 he interviewed the accused at Miller’s Flat. The accused made a statement admitting the offence.—To Mr Stevens. witness said the accused made tne statement frankly and without any attempt at concealment.—The accused m evidence said he got into debt at Miller s Flat before he came to Dunedin, and pressure by ills creditor caused him to commit the offence.—The accused pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Bail w'as allowed in his own recognisance of £SO. with one surety of £SO