HANDWRITING EVIDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1934, Page 6

HANDWRITING EVIDENCE

MAGISTRATE NOT SATISFIED. CHARGE IN WELLINGTON COURT. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The alleged similarity of two sets of handwriting was the main point relied on by the police in a case in the Magistrate’s Court to-day in which a young domestic, charged with theft, pleaded not guilty. The magistrate considered the case was not proved. It was alleged that accused took money from an envelope which contained a letter and a £5 note, and enclosed the letter in a different envelope, which the prosecution alleged was addressed in ac- * cused’s handwriting. Evidence was given of certain points of similarity. At the request of counsel for accused one of the witnesses from the box dictated the following sentence to the defendant for the purpose of obtaining a specimen of her handwriting: “A man am# a woman went for a walk in Molesworth Street, Wellington, on a Sunday afternoon.’’ Witness particularly asked that certain letters be written in capitals. In comparing the specimen with that on the envelope, witness drew attention to points of siriiilarity. The magistrate said ‘he had examined the case very closely and there were many points of similarity between the handwriting of defendant and the handwriting on the envelope, but there were also admittedly many points of dissimilarity. The view he took was that it could have been written by defendant, but evidence as.-to handwriting did not prove absolutely that in fact she was the writer. He thought for that reason the charge would have to be dismissed.