TRIAL CONCLUDED

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 20, 24 July 1945, Page 6

TRIAL CONCLUDED

AUCTION FUNDS CASE

LEGAL POSITION STATED

The second trial of Lionel Clifford Kimmo, 36, auctioneer, and Clarence Haigh, 49, clerk, on a charge of theft as servants of £8740 from Townsend 'and Paul, Ltd., was concluded in the 'Supreme Court today, before the Chief •Justice (Sir Michael Myers) and a jury. The jury, retired at'll.2o a.m. and had not returned at the time of going to press.

During cross-examination by the dejfending counsel (Mr. W. E. Leicester) !of Mr. G. S. T. Harden, public accountjant and auditor to Townsend and Paul, (Ltd., his Honour interrupted to ask ihow questions relating to the Bell acIcount were relevant. "You see, after all, the money was taken," said his Honour. "They have admitted its .having been taken, and it was taken out of Townsend and Paul's till. The money was Townsend and Paul's, and the relations between the company and the growers have nothing whatsoever to do with this case. I don't know whether the practices of Townsend and Paul as between themselves and the growers are good or bad, but if that has to be; inquired into, it has to be inquired into in quite a different proceeding", and I must tell the jury that." ! Mr." Leicester: Well, of course, I am entitled to put certain submissions beifore the jury too, subject to your (Honour's ruling. His Honour: That is all very well, (but there' are limits" in the way of ■suggestions to the jury "beyond which 'even • counsel are not entitled to go. . . .- This is a simple case. The allegationYis that certain moneys were taken. - According, to the evidence, it is admitted that they were taken, and they were taken out of Townsend and Paul's till. All this about the Bell account and so on is quite irrelevant. -^ JUDGE'S RULING. A little later his Honour said that lie did not propose to allow crossexamination on the Bell account to be pursued. To his Honour, the witness said that it w^s^ecessary that there should be some system whereby persons in the trade" who could not attend the auctions should be enabled to make their purcßases. . >' His-Honour: You are not here, Mr. Harden, -■ either to approve or condemn "any particular system?—No, sir. But some system had to be adopted, and Townsend and Paul, for good or ill,* advised that particular system. That is what it means?— Yes. No address was called for the de-fence,-and the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. .W. H. Cunningham) did not address the jury. In the course of his address, Mr. Leicester 'said it must not be forgotten that ,the. references to the Bell account ;were first made, by Mr. Cunningham. ' His Honour said that that had been i necessary to explain how the removal [of the- moneys each day had been raccounted for. j Counsel said he felt bound to say that all the witnesses, with the exception of Detective-Sergeant Compton, were to a certain extent not disinterested persons because of their association with the company. He asked '■'■ the jury to consider whether the moneys had ever reached the possession, of Townsend and Paul and y/ere their property. His Honour: In the first place, that is a matter of law. In the second place, what you are saying is not pertinent, because you know, if it were shown that .the moneys were not those of Townsend and Paul, but those of the growers, the indictment would at once be: amended. Counsel: Very. well, sir, but that is IJiow the indictment stands. . Submitting that the Crown case had unsatisfactory and disturbing featuses, j counsel suggested that there had been !no evidence as to admissions of the itheft of- any particular sum. THE SUMMING UP. In his summing up, his Honour said the jury 'would' no doubt consider it iwas a somewhat pathetic circumstance that two men who had been employed by the company for a considerable period should be facing such a charge, pbut it; had to be borne in mind that half of that period, according to jthe Crown case, they had been persistently i and consistently stealing money from the company. The growers had nothing to do with the case; the moneys belonged to Townsend and Paul and had to be accounted for iby the company to the growers. He rwas bound to say that in the whole of Mr. Leicester's address there had not been a single word that could be .said to be a defence to the charge. ZThe jury had the accused's admissions about the money taken. "It is not for me to express any ©pinion about the propriety or otherwise of the method adopted in connection with the Bell account," said his Honour. "In any case, I have not (sufficient information before me, but Sf there is anything wrong or extraordinary in connection with the (account, well, there are a number of (people interested and they could consider that they might take appropriate Steps, but for the purposes of this case 5t does not matter one iota what the (practice is."