"A SIMPLE SORT"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 251, 18 December 1940, Page 5

"A SIMPLE SORT"

YOUTH'S ATTEMPT AT EASY MONEY CONVICTION ON FALSE! PRP> TENCES CHARGE "He is really a simple sort of youth, Your Worships, and there is nothing criminal about him," was Sergeant M. Farrell's description of Ernest Raymond Hill, aged 20, farm-hand, when charging him on Monday with: the theft of a blank cheque and. obtaining the sum of £5 by means of false pretences. 'Messrs R, W. Schofiekl and L. H. Brown, justices, Avere on the Bench and accused, electing summary jurisdiction, pleaded guilty to both charges. Sergeant Farrell said that accused was a farm hand employed at Te Teko. Working for a sharemilker on a farm, he visited the owner's house during the latter's absence and removed a blank cheque from the back of the book. Some time later he filled it in for £44 9s 9d, making it payable to D. Logan, and signing it G. McFarland. Coming to Whakatane last Friday he first presented the cheque at a business house but the assistant was sus J picious and would not cash. it. It had then been presented m another quarter and £5 had been advanced on it. Accused had been advised to call for the balance on Saturday morning but he did not do so and the offence was discovered when the cheque was presented at the Bank. Accused, said the Sergeant, had previous convictions and was already on licence from a Borstal Institution. The lapse would be reported to the Prisons Board and. it was possible that he would have to face another charge later. His health Avas not good. Most of the money had been recovered. "There is only one thing to do," said the Bench, "and that is to give you a month's imprisonment." On the theft charge Hill was convicted and discharged.