THEFT OF DOLLARS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 19, 17 October 1942, Page 10

THEFT OF DOLLARS

American Serviceman’s Companion WOMAN CONVICTED In the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, Nancy Catherine Bradley, married woman and nursemaid, aged 28, was charged with stealing 127 dollar bills, valued at £3B/13/3, the property of Joseph 11. Cooper. Accused was defended by Mr. 11. Mitchell. Evidence was given by Joseph Cooper, an American serviceman, that he met accused about 10 o'clock on Thursday night and went with her and other companions to a house in the city where there was some drinking. He aud accused were together in Lambton Quay early yesterday' morning. They stood in a doorway for a time and then walked northward for a short while, when he found his wallet was missing. When he left his ship the previous afternoon he had about 150 dollars and £3O to £3u in English money. With the woman lie walked back to the doorway and she picked up.the wallet, but the money was missing from it. lie complained oi' the loss to a policeman, accusing, the woman of the theft. He believed he had seen some money on the pavement near where the wallet was picked ut>. He was a bit intoxicated at that time. Constable Miller stated that be was in Lambton Quay yesterday, and shortly before 0 a.m. he noticed a sailor and a woman arguing. He saw the woman pick up a wallet. Cooper called to him to search the woman, saying he had been robl.ed of 120 dollars. He saw no money on the ground where they were standing Defendant handed him the wallet. There was only a 10/- note in it. He then noticed a bundle of notes on tlie, ground with a rubber band round it. This had not been there when he looked before. Defendant, giving evidence, said she was a married woman, and her husband was working at the railway workshops, they having been married six years. Following an illness she had been recuperating in the South Island and had recently been staying with friends in Wellington with her husband's consent. She had been at the Majestic Cabaret on Thursday night, and on leaving there about 11.50 p.m. she and a friend met Cooper and his friends. They went to a house in the city, where Cooper and Ins friends had a few drinks and gambled. She denied having touched any of Cooper s money. Mr Mitehell asked the Court to dismiss the charge. There was no evidence of theft, only a suspicion, he said. The statement bis client made to the police constable that Cooper had given her some money to look after till the following evening was only such a statement us might be expected from a woman in it panic. “I don’t think there is tiny doubt that the uione.V'was taken, and that the money was dropped,” said Mr. Hurley, S.M., m entering a conviction and placing Bradley on probation for one year.