TOTALISATOR FRAUD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 106, 8 May 1933, Page 8

TOTALISATOR FRAUD

RUSE BY TWO MEN OLD TICKETS PRESENTED SEQUEL IN POLICE COURT Two men who had obtained £l4 18s to which they were not entitled at tne totalisator at the Stratford Racing Club’s meeting on April 1 were prose•cuted in the Stratford Court this week. Their names were suppressed. After the sixth race at the meeting the two men had four 10s tickets on March Alone, which was not placed. The tickets were marked No. 4. The last race was run with Merry Way as No. 4 in the field. The two men took two tickets on Merry Way, which paid a dividend of £7 9s. and when they presented the tickets at the dividend window they also put the four March Alone tickets underneath them ana were paid on the six tickets, collecting £22 7s when they were entitled to only £7 9s. They thus committed an .offence which would probably never have been traced to them had not one of them dropped a remark which led to the police investigating. When "charged in the Court the men pleaded guilty. Detective Meiklejohn outlined the facts and said that by their ruse the accused received £l4 18s more than they were entitled to by the two tickets on Merry Way. One man when approached candidly admitted what he had done and later the other did so and the money was refunded. Apart from this offence each was of good character “Had these men not boasted afterwards of what they had done it is doubtful whether the offence could have been traced to them, and in my opinion that indicates the stupidity rather than the criminal nature of the thing,” said Mr J. H. Sheat, who appeared for the accused. Both are first offenders in every sense of the term, and I think they are entitled to clemency. I would suggest a term of probation with suppression of the names.” Sergeant Kelly: I would not recommend probation in view of the •class of crime and the difficulty of its detection. “There is a large class of people that is not actually criminally minded, but which thinks that it is clever to perpetrate a fraud of this kind,” said the magistrate. Mr W. H. Woodward. “Such an offence is a theft. Unfortunately there are many people who have never understood the spirit of the •commandment ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ Accused are of that type—neither essentially honest nor criminal —and it must be brought home to people that frauds of this kind are theft.” Mr Woodward added that he agreed with Mr Sheat that the men needed only a lesson and ho would suppress their names, though he would inflict a penalty heavy enough to deter any others who might be like-minded. Accused were each fined £lO.