WOMAN CLERK FOUND NOT GUILTY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 37, 13 February 1941, Page 6

WOMAN CLERK FOUND NOT GUILTY

FINDING OF A JURY CONDUCTED HER OWN DEFENCE | Per Prefis Association, j AUCKLAND, Feb. 12. Verdict of not guilty was returned by the jury in the trial of Phyllis Olive Barnett, aged 31, on a charge of the theft of £BOO, the property of Mary Cochra’he Baird and Sarah McNeish Baird. She was discharged. Speaking from typewritten notes to-day, the accused addressed the jury for 20 minutes, concluding with a statement: “Gentlemen, I did not steal £BOO, and I did not steal £BOO from Miss Baird,” Mr. G. S. R. Meredith, Crown Prosecutor, said that in the circumstances he would not exercise his privilege of addressing the jury. His Honour, Mr. Justice Blair, said the case resolved into a simple question for the jury of whether they would believe the accused or believe Urquhart. Clearly there was perjury on one side or the other. Even on her own story, however, the accused knew that the receipt which she gave Miss Baird was not the proper receipt to have given. Commenting on the fact that, after offers of legal assistance had been made, accused preferred to defend herself, His Honour remarked that accused got some advantage from the position. "She got things past she should not have got past,” he said. "It is for you to say whether that was done on purpose.”