WOMAN CONDUCTS OWN DEFENCE

Southland Times, Issue 24357, 11 February 1941, Page 5

WOMAN CONDUCTS OWN DEFENCE

CHARGE OF STEALING £BOO (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 10. Phyllis Olive Barnett, aged 31, appeared before Mr Justice Blair in the Supreme Court, charged with stealing £BOO, the property of Mary Cochrane Baird and Sarah McNeish Baird. She conducted her own defence, informing the Judge that she was financially embarrassed and unable to engage counsel. She was permitted to sit at the counsel table and exercised her full privilege of challenging six jurymen. For the Crown, Mr V. R. Meredith said that evidence would be given by Mary Baird, typist on the City Council staff, that in October 1939 she lent the sum of £6OO on mortgage through the office of Robert Urquhart, solicitor, by whom Barnett was employed. Later Miss Baird and her sister handed the sum of £BOO to Barnett to be placed in Urquhart’s trust account and received a trust account official receipt. In 1941 the question of money being tampered with was mentioned and Barnett told Miss Baird that if so the loss would be made good out of the solicitors’ fidelity fund. Urquhart would give evidence that he was unaware of the transaction. Evidence of her depositing money with the accused was given by Miss M. C. Baird. “You are aware of my two previous trials?” the accused asked in crossexamination and received an affirmative answer. She elicited from the witness that the witness had told Urquhart before last September that she had this £BOO in his trust account, and that he had denied knowing anything about it. After the accused had been found not guilty in two trials the witness had told the accused that she was going to demand £BOO from Urquhart. The witness had made a claim on the fidelity fund. It was the witness who suggested an investment to the accused. The accused asked that the name of Urquhart be substituted for that of the Misses Baird in the charge as the owner of tire money, but his Honour explained that the Crown was charging her with stealing the Misses Bairds money, and if it failed to prove i that she would get off. I Robert Urquhart gave evidence that I he could find no trace of a receipt of i £BOO. Asked by the accused about her defence in the previous case the witness said that there never was a defence. The accused: I put it up to you, Mr Urquhart, that you stole Miss Baird’s £BOO.

The witness: I know nothing about it. Did you instruct me to issue that trust receipt?—No. The witness said he might be owing the accused something, but he had not had the opportunity of straightening out the position. The accused said she could not proceed further without the production of certain of Urquhart’s books and his Honour adjourned the case to give her an opportunity of seeing these. The accused was released on bail.