THEFT OF OVER £l3OO

Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1933, Page 11

THEFT OF OVER £l3OO

;•. ■ ‘ ELDERLY WOMAN ROBBED; • MAN ADMITS NINE CHARGES.' •’? A case in' which a man had pleaded, guilty to stealing over; £1300? from an J; elderly woman who was said to be worth '7 £BO,OOO was dealt with in < the Supreme 7 Court in Christchurch last Saturday by Mr. Justice Reed. Charles Edgar McPeak7 had oleaded guilty to nine charges of theft ’ / Mr. R. A. Young, defending counsel, said prisoner had pleaded guiltyf. to the ; theft of a very large sum of money,'and at first sight this appeared to be.the.iji act of an unscrupulous salesman with a woman. : ?. 7 : In answer to a question by the Judge, -7/. the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. A. T. Don- - nelly, said that the woman was wealthy. She was over 70 years of age. < • ><<*' The judge: It is not a case of a man getting a woman’s 'savings? . Mr. Donnelly: Oh no, Your Honour.' Mr. Young said that he was instructed that the woman was worth £BO,OOO. She . had large sums of money on her ''hauls from time to time and gave prisoner a free hand. He bought over £lOOO worth’ of valuable scrip on which she was drawing interest, and a valuable property. -7 He said that he lost the other money in speculation. "-7.7 His Honour: Racehorses? • Mr. Young said that this was not so. He lost the money in ordinary specula- fo tion. With regard to the probation of- ' fleer’s report, counsel had conferred with the manager of the firm by whom 1 pris- / oner had been employed for seven years, ’ and had been told by the manager that '.AK; McPeak’s cpnduct during that time was? > perfectly satisfactory and that he -deft of his own accord. Since he left, he . had been in business as a stockbroker; 77 Because of his past record and the peculiar nature of his relationship with the woman, and because he had .given th«>; police every assistance, c. unset asked for the leniency of the court. .7, His Honour said that prisoner had pleaded guilty to nine charges £l3OO in nine months. It was not a case for probation, but he did not think; it was a case for a very severe penalty. : Prisoner would be ordered to be detainedfor reformative purposes for 15 months.'; 7.7*- ; - : ' —• —- .. «