OVER £7OO STOLEN

Evening Star, Issue 21746, 14 June 1934, Page 8

OVER £7OO STOLEN

ALEXANDRA LODGE SECRETARY'S DEFALCATIONS SENTENCE OF TWO YEARS AND THREE MONTHS ' / . A sentence of two years and three months’ hard labour was this morning imposed upon Cyril Blockley Robertson, who appeared before His Honour Mr. Justice Kennedy in the Supreme Court on charges of the theft of over £7OO, the property of the Court Pride of Alexandra Foresters’ Lodge. Mr A. J. Dowling, who appeared for Robertson, said the prisoner wished to repeat his expression of regret for the crimes he had committed. He realised that the offences were regarded as very; serious. Counsel submitted that there were some unusual features which should be put before the court, features which distinguished the case from others in which persons were charged with breach of trust. The moneys taken were put into property, and the prisoner believed he could _ repay. _ The moneys were not used in riotous living, in the pursuit of pleasure, or in gambling. It was true he had lost everything, and the broad result was that he was no better off for his serious misappropriations. Counsel went on to refer to the fact that for some years two auditors had signed a certificate stating that they had examined securities and found them in order at a time when it appeared they were not in existence. Had the auditors properly fulfilled their obligations, the defalcations by the prisoner would have been detected at a very early stage of his career. After his arrest the prisoner was frank, and gave assistance in clearing up a complicated series of crimes. At the age of eighteen Robertson went to the war, and had a distinguished record. He was promoted to commissioned rank. His relatives said his disposition had been altered by, the war, which was responsible for a spirit of restlessness w'hich caused him. to change from one occupation to another. He had not been in trouble before, and had already suffered considerable punishment for his crime. His foolish action in clearing out to the country and living in an almost uncivilised condition on; deer meat and flour, must have caused him much suffering.Having regard to the special circumstances, counsel asked His Honour to make the sentence as light as possible* The Crown Prosecutor (Mr F. B* Adams) pointed out, in respect to the remarks made regarding the auditors,, that the whole moral responsibility, rested upon the prisoner. The auditors were not his employers; they were merely the persons entrusted by his employers with the duty of supervising his accounts. ' The prisoner committed a further, iniquity by misleading the auditors, who were .told by him that the securities were in Dunedin. The prisoner had absconded for several months in order to evade arrest. Counsel emphasised that the theft was of money subscribed by members of a friendly society for provision for infirmity and old age, and was a mean one; The war had not taught the prisoner to steal. He attained the rank of commissioned officer, and counsel submitted that .n the circumstances of the case, dealing with! systematic thefts, the facts regarding his war service were altogether immaterial. : ■■ ■ ■ ’ ■

His Honour said the defalcations extended over a period of years. They, commenced in 1925, and amounted to over £7OO- The whole fraud «as concealed by false and fraudulent balancesheets and wrong entries. It ,>ps:v wl that the check upon him was ineffective, but it was no excuse for a man of education to say that the auditors did not have the capacity to check his fraud. The consequence of: the defalcations was tlat the payments of older members of the lodge. instead_ of diminishing, would continue at a high rate, and that consequence must have been plain to him as an officer of the society. His Honour then passed sentence upon the prisoner of two years’ hard labour upon a number of the charges,and three months’ hard labour upon: another, the sentences to be cumulative, totalling two years and three months.