DEFAULTING SOLICITOR.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 882, 7 December 1916, Page 8

DEFAULTING SOLICITOR.

G. B. RITCHIE SENTENCED.

THREE YEARS' IMPRISONMENT.! Cleorge Berry Ritchie, solicitor, of i Christch'ureh, was this morning sentenced by his Honour, Air Justice Denniston, to three years' imprison-1 ment on three charges of converting: trust moneys, and five charges of theft. I

Mr 0. T. J. Alpers spoke on behalf of the prisoner. The prisoner, he said, was (>1 years of age, and had been 21 years in practice. Among his clients were many closely attached to him. He lost a great deal of his money in scheelite .speculations in Otago, and in oil ventures in Taranaki. He devoted much of his time to extraneous matters. He advised many of his clients to embark in these wild ventures, and in consequence lost their patronage. Then he began to drift into difficulty and did not appear to know when he was spending his client's money, as he did not keep a clear distinction between his own and his trust accounts. The total amount of the defalcations was £3600 in connection with the Krauze account. Mr Raymond said that it was his duty to bring before the court the fact that in another trust account formerly in the hands of Ritchie there was a deficiency of £IOOO. There was a shortage of several hundreds in another estate. Prisoner had not kept proper books since 1908.

Mr Alpers, continuing, snitl that prisoner was assisted in the drifting: process hy the fact that his bankers allowed him to draw on his private! account up to £3OOO. It was only j when the compulsory audit of sdlicitors' books was enjoined that the; prisoner realised the position. His Honour: He knew he was using his clients' money, but did not l take the trouble to ascertain the i amount? j Mr Alpers: I'm afraid that is so,| your Honour. His Honour: When the audit was made three years ago, did he then ascertain how much of his clients' money had been used? Mr Alpers: He then opened up a general trust account—a second or new trust account. His Honour: When a proper trust account is kept a solicitor should know the exact position. How were the books kept? Did he keep a proper set of accounts? If you can't tell me that you can't be of much assistance to me. Mr Alpers: His trust accounts had been improperly kept, and when the audit was made an attempt was made to unravel the tangle; thus il was some time before Ritchie knew the exact extent of his deficiency. His Honour: What was done when the deficiency was discovered? Mr Alpers: The auditor became a sort of receiver and reduced chaos into order as well as he could. His Honour: After embezzling his clients' money the prisoner simply went on recklessly, and took no trouble to ascertain the extent of his embezzlements? Mr Alpers: I'm not endeavouring to palliate or mitigate the seriousness of the offence, but I've simply tried to sketch the history of how the offences arose. The sum could have been reduced, as no cosis had been charged against this par- j ticular client lor years. A sum of £6OO could thus have been set off. I do not wish to imply that the drift of the accused has been dwelt upon in mitigation. Up to a few years ago the prisoner bore an execellent character and had a general reputation for kindness of heart. Never again will he be able to make a fresh start and never will he be in a position to make restitution of the moneys improperly converted to his use. The accused so far realises his position that a very light sentence indeed .vould act as a deterrent. Mr Raymond said that the accused was, till a few years ago, a very respected member of the profession. The shortage in the Kreuze estate apparently commenced away back in 1908. His books had apparently been kept in a sort of a way until 1913. In that year a compulsory audit became necessary, and on February 9, this year, accused was charged under the Legal Practitioners' Act with failing to keep proper books and was fined. Then the Law Society took up the matter. Moneys were received on behalf of the Kreuze estate and were paid by Ritchie into his trust account. This would have been all right if they had been properly invested—which, of course, they were not. They were taken out of the trust account and not applied in the manner which the i trustees arranged. In sentencing the accused his Honour said that by virtue of his profession he had been entrusted with large sums of money which he had converted to his own use. Such cases were becoming painfully frequent, and in the interests of the profession and society generally they must be discouraged. Prisoner would be sentenced lo three years' imprisonment.