Man Pleads Guilty To Theft Of £6350 From Employer

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31094, 24 June 1966, Page 8

Man Pleads Guilty To Theft Of £6350 From Employer

A man, who stole £6350 from his employers, told the detective who was escorting him from Australia to New Zealand on an extradition order that he intended to travel to Brazil, Detective Sergeant D. Porteous told Mr E. A. Lee. S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Harold Paul Merritt, aged 36. an accountant, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft as a servant of £6350 from Trans Tours (N.Z.), Ltd. He was remanded in custody to June 30 for sentence.

Mr H. J. B. Quigley, who appeared for the accused, said that because of a medical report which had been obtained Merritt had decided to change his election to be tried by a jury. Merritt had started his employment with Trans Tours, Ltd., about three years ago, Detective-Sergeant Porteous said. At that time it was a relatively small private company running sight-seeing tours throughout New Zealand. Merritt was the accountant in the firm’s Christchurch office and when the company became a public one he retained the position. For most of the time Merritt was employed by the firm he had the right to operate its bank accounts.

On May 13, Merritt was absent from the office. His wife told the firm’s secretary at Timaru the following day that her husband had not come home the previous night She told him she had received a parcel in the post containing £2OO in £5 notes. The parcel was post marked Harewood and there was no note in it

Inquiries were made by the firm and it was found that £6350 had been withdrawn from the company’s account by Merritt, who had travelled from Christchurch to Sydney by air. The matter was reported to the C. 1.8. On the morning of May 13, Merritt had cashed a cheque for £6350 with the Bank of New Zealand at Christchurch and had received £lOOO in £lO notes and £5350 in £5 notes. He had no authority from the company to do this. During the early hours of May 15, Detective-Sergeant James, of the Sydney C. 1.8., made inquiries at the Chevron Hilton Hotel in Sydney. Merritt, who was booked in at the hotel, had £3310 in New Zealand currency in the safe deposit boxes of the hotel, said Detective-Sergeant Porteous.

Merritt told the detective that the rest of the money had been deposited with the Bank of New South Wales at Christchurch, but this was not true.

A few days later Merritt’s luggage was thoroughly searched at Long Bay Gaol and a further £1233 was recovered from the inside of the linings of his suitcase, briefcase and a children’s sewing set. Merritt refused to say where the rest of the money was.

A ciplete search was made o Merritt’s office in the company’s premises in Christchurch on May 15 and scraps of torn paper were found in a rubbish tin. They were pieced together and some of the pieces made up a letter to a man named Arthur. This letter indicated that Merritt was going to Australia.

A Dargaville telephone number and other information were found written on the papera. On May 19, Detective-Sergeant O’Shea of the Whangared C.I.D. executed a search warrant on a house at Turiwiri, Dargaville. Mer-

iritt’s recently issued pass!port and a letter to his wife in Christchurch were found, said Detective-Sergeant Porteous. Inquiries were made at Christchurch and it was found that £lOOO had been deposited with a Christchurch solicitor. This amount was to be paid to Merrit’s wife at the rate of £2O a week. Merritt had also deposited £275 with a Christchurch accountant to settle some of his personal debts. Merritt gave authorities for these two sums to be returned to Trans Tours (N.Z.), Ltd. On May 30, Merritt appeared at the Paddington Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney, and an extradition order

was made to have him escorted to New Zealand by Detec-tive-Sergeant B. Murray. While travelling to New Zealand, Merritt said he had intended to travel to Brazil. He gave no reasons for committing the crime. Of the £6350 which was stolen by Merritt, £6073 4s had been recovered. It was believed that the remaining £276 16s was spent by Merritt on fares, clothing, and other expenses. Merritt, who was married, had a number of Australian and New Zealand convictions under the name of Harold Robert Charles Paul SaintMerrat. He had changed his name to Merritt by deed poll, Detective-Sergeant Porteous said.