THEFT OF POSTAL PACKETS

Otago Witness, Issue 4042, 1 September 1931, Page 65

THEFT OF POSTAL PACKETS

YOUTH SENTENCED TWO YEARS IN BORSTAL. Alatthew Corlet, a youth 19 years of age, appeared before his Honor Air Justice Kennedy in the Supreme Court on Saturday morning for sentence on eight charges of theft of postal packets as a postal officer. Mr W. L. Aloore, who appeared for the prisoner, said that he thought that his chent now appreciated the gravity of his offences. There were, however, certain circumstances which counsel wished to place before his Honor in mitigation of any sentence which might be passed. The probation officer, in his report, referred to the fact that the prisoner took a share of running a week-end crib. The expenses of that were Is a week because be shared it with five others, and the expense of getting to it was Is 6d to Is lid if he took the train, but frequently he was given free trips in motor cars. During that time he was spending no money whatever on pictures or any other source of amusement, so that the expense was not heavy, and the food he took was part of his board. It was true that he was foolish enough to play cards for money and lost. So far as counsel could make out, prisoner was the “ pigeon ” and was plucked by those who had more experience. The total amount of his losses, however, was not more than £6. The probation officer also reported that he was drinking, but not to excess, and prisoner assured him that he had not been drinking for over four months. The money taken from the packets was used for buying boots and socks and other articles of wearing apparel. The trouble was partly due to the fact that prisoner’s parents were separated. The mother was earning her own living and supporting a younger son. It was at his mother’s suggestion that he went to a boarding house, and the boardinghouse keeper gave him a good reputation. If his Honor granted probation he had friends who were prepared to look after him. Air Aloore asked his Honor to take into consideration the facts that the prisoner was only 19 years of age, that he had made a complete confession to the police, and that he had disclosed at least one case about which the Post Office had received no complaints. The amounts taken were small, and the prisoner was in a position to make restitution. His father had sent a telegram stating that he had obtained work for the boy in North Canterbury. Evidence was given by the boy’s mother and a friend of the family wit?, reference to the help they would give him if he were admitted to probation. * The Crown Prosecutor (Air F. B. Adams) said that when the prisoner was accosted by another postal official he handed over 30 letters which he had received that day, and intended to take home to open. Apparently the matter was somewhat wholesale, and the prisoner had been systematically taking letters home to search them.

Addressing the prisoner, his Honor stated that the depositions gave some indication of the great hardship which might be inflicted on innocent persons by theft by a postal officer of the money destined for them. The thefts extended over a period of five months, and it would appear that prisoner had examined a large number of letters for the purpose, no doubt, of ascertaining which ones contained money which he could steal. The probation officer, in his helpful report, did not recommend probation, and his Honor said that his own consideration of the case led him independently to arrive at the conclusion that prisoner’s best interests would be served by his being brought under the discipline of men. Should he prove repentant, and should his conduct show that it was in his interests to release him upon probationary license, he might be so released from the Borstal Institution by the authorities. The sentence of the court was that Corlet be detained in the Borstal Institution for a period of two years upon each charge, the sentences to be concurrent.