Magistrate's Court £325 Paid By Woman To Purported Car Agent

Press, Volume C, Issue 29518, 20 May 1961, Page 13

Magistrate's Court £325 Paid By Woman To Purported Car Agent

By representing himself to be an agent for Amuri Motors, Ltd., last November, Eric Neville Hill, aged 50. a salesman, obtained £325 from a Christchurch woman on the pretence that he could get her a new car, said Sergeant T. A. A. Matson in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Hill pleaded guilty before Mr A. P. Blair. S.M., to charges of theft of £lOO from Faye Allen on November 1 and theft of £225 from Allen on November 4. He was remanded to May 25 for sentence. Bail was allowed in h.s own recognisance of £lOO, with two sureties of

Sergeant Marson said that Hill called to see the complainant in a Christchurch shop and said he was an agent for Amuri Motors. He was asked if he could get her a new car. and said he could, accepting a cheque of £lOO as deposit He was asked about overseas funds required for purchasing the car and said he would attend to the matter. Hill returned to the complainant’s shop next day with pamphlets about the car. and said he had the necessary licence to obtain the car.

On November 4 Hill rang the complainant and said he was short of funds and needed a further £225. He was forwarded a cheque for this amount, said Sergeant Marson. He assured the complainant that the ear would be delivered before the end of January. Hill was found by police cn February 20 and admitted that he had opened bank accounts and cashed the two cheques, spending the moneyon himself, said Sergeant Marson.

Hill’s counsel (Mr D. H Godfrey), asking for bail, said that Hill had been arrested on other charges last December, and had spent most of the time since then in custody awaiting trial in the Supreme Court. He had been found not guilty of the charges. "At the time he was running a television installation business, and wants ball to enable him to wind up the business,” said Mr Godfrey. Sergeant Marson said that before his appearance in the Supreme Court Hill absconded from bail and it was necessary for the police to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

Mr Godfrey said that Hill had surrendered voluntarily to the police. REMANDED Four girls were remanded to May 22 on charges of being found on board the m.v. Sussex without lawful excuse while it was berthed at Lyttelton yesterday. They were all granted bail and ordered to report daily to the police. The girls were Judith Maureen Carberry, aged 17, Pamela McKay Smith, aged 20. and Arlene Faye Hodge.

aged 20. The fourth was granted interim suppression of name.

On a joint charge of converting, a car, valued at £2OO, the property of James Lindsay Bartlett, Albert Thomas Dry, a driver, William James Henderson, a workman, and David John McCormick, a workman, were remanded on bail to May 25. A workman was remanded on bail to May 25 on a charge of unlawfully converting a car on April 29. Interim suppression of name was granted. John Lawson, alias Laurence O’Brien, aged 18, a workman, was remanded on bail to May 25 on a charge of theft of a transistor radio valued at £lO. the property of Donald McKenzie Dickson. at Pareora on May 17. LICENCE CANCELLED

Paul Samuel Green, aged 18. a labourer, was fined £l2 and his driver’s licence was cancelled for 12 months on a charge of driving in a manner which might have been dangerous in Gilberthorpes road on February 12. He pleaded not guilty, and was represented by Mr J. N. Matson.

On a further charge of having no warrant of fitness, to which he pleaded guilty, Green was convicted and discharged.

OTHER TRAFFIC CHARGES On other traffic charges brought by the police, offenders were dealt with as follows:

Driving without due care and attention: Michael Peter Foley, £4 (no warrant of fitness, costs only): Raymond Arthur Sanders. £4; Anton Joseph Ostoja, £4. Failing to give way to the right: Esme Prudence Aldridge. £5; Richard John Sheehy. £4. Opening car door in a manner likely to cause injury: Stewart Clarence Miller. £l.

Failing to report accident: Stewart Christie Forrester, convicted and discharged.