STOLE TOTE TICKET FROM POLICEMAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17710, 3 December 1925, Page 6

STOLE TOTE TICKET FROM POLICEMAN.

S.M. DISBELIEVES STORY TOLD BY ACCUSED.

(Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND, December 2. The loss of a totalisator ticket at Takapuna racecourse on Monday and a claim made to its ownership resulted in the appearance in the Police Court of Thomas Ccndon, aged twenty-six, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing the ticket, valued at £1 6s, the property of Walter Riddle. The accused admitted that he. was unlawfully on the racecourse, being a person convicted of theft and forgery. Walter Riddle, a police constable, said he attended the Takapuna races while off duty on Mondav. He purchased a ticket on Tea Bell in one race, and when the horse won, gave the ticket to bis wife to collect the dividend. She returned a few minutes later and said she had lost the ticket. On going to the back of the totalisator, witness saw the ticket lying face upward on the ground. As he bent to pick it up, accused stooped to snatch it, declaring that it was his. Being sure the ticket was his, from the number on it, witness called a constable in uniform, who arrested the accused. Mrs Florence Riddle gave corroborative evidence. Constable O'Brien said he was approached by Constable Riddle, who, in the presence of his wife and the accused, said the latter would not surrender the ticket. The accused stoutly denied having picked it up, but. after being taken to the police room, admitted he had done so. He took «p a defiant attitude at the start, and force had to be used to wrest the teiket from his grasp. The accused, in evidence, said he had two bets in the fifth race and one in the sixth. He went to the totalisator to collect £2 10s in dividends, but dropped one of the tickets. Immediately Constable Riddle approached and claimed it. The accused had willingly offered to give it to him if he could prove ownership, but when .Constable

O'Brien was approached the two started to wrestle with him, and one got in a “sly blow"

Cross-examined by Senior-Sergeant Edwards, who remarked upon the variation of his story from that of the fronstables, the accused said the ticket was not forced from his hand. The Senior Sergeant said that Condon was admitted to three years’ probation in February, 1920, for theft and forgery. The Magistrate, Mr Poynton, imposed a sentence of fourteen days’ imprisonment, but on the appeal of Mr Fennell, counsel for the accused, the Magistrate altered the sentence to a fine of £5 on each count. A fortnight was allowed in which to find the mcnev