SHOPLIFTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20014, 23 January 1935, Page 2

SHOPLIFTING

SERIES OF OFFENCES By Telegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH. January 22. Many articles of feminine attire, including coats and dresses, and also a number of handbags and hat-boxes, were displayed in the Magistrate’s Court this morning. These were exhibits in a case in which Ellen Marion Mather, aged 33, a widow, faced 27 charges of theft from shops. It was alleged that the offences covered a period between January 22, 1933, and December 4 last. The value of the goods involved was £268 16s. Accused pleaded guilty to nine charges and not guilty to eighteen. Twenty of the 27 charges were heard to-day. Accused was convicted on 16, and four were dismissed. She was sentenced to imprisonment Tor 14 days on the first charge, sentence on the others being deferred until the other charges are heard to-morrow. In evidence, accused said that it was her custom to go to nearly every race meeting, sometimes as far away as Wellington. She had inside information about horses, and her profits from race betting must have amounted at least to £2OO a year. She had not banked the money because it would have affected her widow’s pension. The Magistrate: Won’t you have to refund to the Government the money you have had as widow’s pension? Accused: No, it says on the paper that money earned must be put down, but not money won at races. I might have lost it again at other meetings. The Magistrate: Earnings consist of money received from any source whatever. You, a woman with two children and receiving the widow’s pension, could afford two fur coats. Evidence was given by shopkeepers and their employees identifying the goods. In most cases identification was easy, but especially in respect of smaller articles witnesses could not be positive always that the goods had not been sold. In all such cases the charges were dismissed.