HEAVY DEFALCATIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3833, 30 August 1927, Page 16

HEAVY DEFALCATIONS.

A DISHONEST SOLICITOR. GISBORNE, August 25. Sentence was passed by Mr Justice Ostler in the Supreme Court this morning on John Moden Bullard, a former Gisborne solicitor, who pleaded guilty to 12 charges of theft by misappropriation, the total de-

falcations amounting to £2488. Mr M. Myers, K.C., who appeared for tho prisoner, stated that the accused on his return from the war came to Gisborne as managing clerk, and when he had passed his examinations, he formed a partnership with Mann, a solicitor, which continued to the latter’s death. No one liked to besmirch the character of one who was not here to defend himself, but in this case it was unavoidable that it should be done. Shortly after the death of Mann, the accused found the business was wrong, and that Mann had misappropriated the funds of the firm. His Honor would see from cheques put m that Mann had been drawing substantially on trust funds. The accused theght tho amount for which he was civilly liable was £2OOO, and to meet that ho adopted a course which was not right. He drew cheques on his trust account to meet claims which continued to be pressed on him, and he obtained assistance from a relative to the extent of £6SCO. He had paid £B5OO, but even that did not satisfy the aggregate of the amounts, for some of which the accused was not himself liable. Having paid the £B5OO he found there was still a substantial sum, about £15,000, owing. Having no further hope if putting things right he went himself to the police. The accused would not have started on the course but for his reasonable hope of being able to pay off the defalcations of his late partner. Mr Nolan, Crown Prosecutor, said it.

was clear beyond doubt that large sums of money had been taken by the accused’s late partner, but there were in addition large sums received by Bullard and not accounted for. He had a statement showing a deficiency of £18.500, but this was not complete, as the auditor had been unable to secure certain documents. The actual shortage in the trust funds could not be ascertained. The case was the most painful he had had to deal with since ho had been on the Bench, said his Honor. It had been put to the Court of Appeal that, apart from the defalcations of the prisoner’s late partner, nothing had Itcen misappropriated, but the police report and Mr Nolan’s statement threw new light on the matter, and he did not think the Court of Appeal had boen fully acquainted with the facts of the case; nor did it know of the prisoner’s

gambling. In view of the fact that the prisoner admittedly gambled while he knew the position ho was in, and continued stealing money, probation was out of the question. The sentence would be imprisonment with hard labour for two years.