SERIES OF THEFTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20892, 23 November 1937, Page 6

SERIES OF THEFTS

A POSTMASTER SENTENCED By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND. November 22. Thefts by officers of the postal department who are necessarily entrusted by the public with the handling of large sums of money ar? always serious offences, said Mr Justice Fair when sentencing in the Supreme Court Leonard Arthur Hetherington, aged 45, on two charges of theft as a servant. Hetherington had been postmaster at .Vaihopo, a settlement on the gumflelds, and had admitted the theft of £2lB from the Government between January 1934 and last October. Mr Holmden, who appeared for Hetherington, said that during the Great War he had been badly shellshocked at Messlnes and afterwards severely wounded in the ann. The people in the district were entirely sympathetic. The Crown Prosecutor. Mr Meredith, said these frauds had been going on for a very considerable period, and Hetherington's method of manipulating the accounts had escaped the audit inspector for a number of years. His Honour said the accused must be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. His age and experience made it quite certain that he must have realised the gravity of the offences he was committing, yet he deliberately continued them for a period of about four years while he was in receipt of a salary and pension which were sufficent for his needs. Making allowance for the serious Injuries Hetherington received in the war, His Honour sentenced him tc 18 months imprisonment.