ALLEGATION OF FORGERY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19365, 1 July 1937, Page 15

ALLEGATION OF FORGERY

MEDICAL CERTIFICATE NAME NOT ON REGISTER COMPANY MANAGER (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. A charge of attempting to cause a person to act on a forged degree as genuine was preferred against Fergus Stanley Hickey, aged 38 years, company manager, was proceeded with before Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., to-day. Charles John Drake, chief clerk of the Health Department, said that the accused was written to last September that a complaint had been received that he was practising as a medical practitioner and that his name did not appear on the New Zealand register. The accused telephoned to the office in reply and left a message for the witness. Last February, in consequence of a further complaint that the accused was examining candidates for life insurance the matter was referred to the police. In reply to the September letter the acusod left a message that his diplomas had been lost in the Manuka, and that he would register later. In March he called on the witness and said that Detective-Sergeant Doyle had interviewed him. He said that he had qualified at the University of Melbourne in 1921 and produced a certificate purporting to be under the hand of the registrar of that university. This certificate was the subject of the charge and was produced by the witness. Told not to Practice The accused at the time had said that he Was not practising and he asked if the department was satisfied as to the documentary evidence. The witness had replied that the department was satisfied provided he did not practice without being on the register in New Zealand. The accused left, saying that he was going to the detective office to show the certificate to Detective-Sergeant Doyle. On June 8, in response to a telephone call, the acused called to see the witness with a certificate which was taken possession of by the police. Replying to counsel, the witness said that the accused had not at any time made application for registration. Expert testimony v/as given by a handwriting expert that the certificate was a traced forgery. Detective-Sergeant Doyle said that the accused, on being told that his name appeared in the telephone directory as a medical officer of the Dominion Life Assurance Company, replied that he had occupied the position of general manager for 10 yeiirs, but was not responsible for the listing in the directory. His home telephone number was a private one as had been pointed out at the Post and Telegraph Department. He gave an understanding to have his name removed from the directory list. Claim to Degree In response to another question he had said that he was the only medical man in the office and that he obtained the degree of M.R.C.S. in London in 1920, or 1921, but had never been in practice in New Zealand or elsewhere. He did not examine people for life insurance purposes more than to peruse and accept or reject the medical reports submitted by other medical men. The witness said that he failed to find the accused’s name in the register of the Royal College of Surgeons and interviewed him again. He said that he did not tell the witness that he had obtained a degree at London, but at Melbourne. What he had meant to say was that he sat for the degree in London and failed. Later, on March 25, the accused brought along the certificate produced. As a result of the police inquiries at Melbourne the witness got possession of a certificate on June 8 and on June 14 he saw the accused at the hospital. The accused said that his life had been ruined through his own foolishness. I-Ie had taken poison. He had admitted that the certificate was a forgery. _____