A SUDDEN TEMPTATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3775, 20 July 1926, Page 36

A SUDDEN TEMPTATION.

THEFT FROM FRIEND S HOME. CHRISTCHURCH, July 13. The sight of an open cash box in the house of some friends was too great a temptation for Andrew Ivan Christie, and he took a £lO note from it. The crime, however, was quickly discovered, and this morning Christie, who was a railway servant, aged 31, was charged before Mr H. A. Young, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court •with the theft of a £lO note, the property of Mary Jane Haase. Christie, who was represented by Mr R. Twynehani, elected to be dealt with summarily, and pleaded guilty. Chief Detective Gibson said that Christie was visiting at a private boardinghouse, and was asked by the proprietress to go to her room to get something. While in the room he took a £lO note from the cashbox. He cashed it immediately, and had only £0 on him when arrested, having spent the other £4. Nothing else was known against accused, who was a married man with no family. He had been working for the Railway Department. Mr Twyneliam said that the facts were ns stated by the chief detective. The strange thing was that Christie was a close friend of complainant and her husband. When he went to complainant’s room he saw the cashbox lying open on the bed. A lot of money was exposed, and accused yielded to a sudden temptation. He would be punished severely by losing his position in the Railway Department, and he might also lose his superannuation money. Counsel asked the Magistrate to take these facts into consideration in fixing the penalty, and. in view of the offence being accused’s first fall from grace, he asked for the suppression of his name. Accused was admitted to probation for 12 months on condition that he took out a prohibition order and refunded £4 in such sums as the probation officer directed. The application for the suppression of accused’s name was refused.