TOTE TICKET FORGERY CHARGE ADMITTED IN COURT

Grey River Argus, 16 April 1948, Page 2

TOTE TICKET FORGERY CHARGE ADMITTED IN COURT

Greymouth Man*s Action at Recent Trotting Meeting

Disreoancies in the balance of the totalisator at the recent meeting of the Grey-Westland Trotting Club in Greymouth had their consequence m the Police Court here yesterday, before Messrs E. O. Henry and G. H. S. Eder, J’s.F.,. when Edgar George Boucher Honey, married, aged 29, railway surfaceman,. of. Greymouth, pleaded guilty to charges of forging totalisator tickets. There weie K charges, which involved falsely representing an investment, of £7 each way on the winner of the fifth race at the meeting, and £4 for a place on the third horse in the race. The total amount paid out on the race for the forged tickets was £4l Os 6d. Accused was represented by Mr C. R. McGinley- The prosecution was conducted by Detective-Sergeant N. Thompson.’ After the hearing of evidence, Honey was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence on Friday, April 23. WINDOW FOUND OPEN Harry John Digby James, totalisator contractor, of Greymouth, told, the Court that he conducted the totalisator at the meeting in question. On the preceding Saturday, two days before the meeting, totalisator tickets, pads and ink were placed at the windows in. preparation for the meeting The tickets were placed in bundles of 50. and were carefully checked. Each bundle was ticked off with a coloured pencil. The windows and doors in the’ building were all fastened before he left it on the Saturday, but on the following day one of the windows was found to be up two or three inches, although not much attention was paid to the fact at the time. Witness, continuing, said that on March 29, the day of the meeting, when dividends were being paid out on the fifth race, two pay-out clerks drew his attention to the code stamp on some tickets. Later, some more tickets bearing the number four were shown to him. He examined the tickets, and they seemed a bit blurred, but, as the day was wet, he had authorised payment. The race had been won by horse No. 3, horse No. 8 running second, and horse No. 4 third. All of the tickets questioned were for £l, and were tickets used in the totalisator. .. .

The morning after the meeting, witness went on, a check revealed that 18 tickets too many, involving £4l Os 6d, had been paid out on. He scrutinised all the tickets, and found seven £1 tickets for a win on No. 3 horse, as well as seven £1 tickets for a place on the same horse, and four tickets for £1 on No. 4 horse, which, after examination, he considered to be not genuine. He produced in the Court the tickets in question, as well as sample tickets. v TOTE EQUIPMENT STOLEN

Witness added that on April 1, he examined 43 bundles of 50 tickets each, and identified them as his own. All had on them the pencil mark to show that they had been checked. Ink and an ink pad, also produced, were his property too. On the day of the races, it had been found that a bottle of ink and a stamp pad were missing. Replying to a question by Mr McGinley, witness said: “I did not personally know that the windows were fastened when I left the totalisator on the Saturday. The same type of tickets were used at Omoto a month previously, and it would have been possible for a bundle of unused tickets to have been taken away from there. The stamp pad and bottle of ink produced were identical with 21 others in the totalisator”. Regarding the markings on the tickets. Mr McGinley asked witness: “You will admit that the stamp was a pretty poor imitation of the real thing?” Witness: “No. I would not admit that. The race line and date line was rather poor, but the code line "was pretty close. It was a wet. day, you know, and I have paid cut on worse on wet days”. Questioned further by Mr McGinley, on scrutiny of the tickets produced, witness admitted that the alleged forgeries were not good imitations of the real tickets.

In answer to Detective-Sergeant Thompson, witness stated that the tickets could have been left over from the Omoto meeting with the check marks upon them.

SUSPICIONS AROUSED

Joseph Claries Corbishley, District Officer of the Department of Labour and Employment, and Harry James Leslie Mattiieson, pay clerk employed by the State Mines Department, and Arthur Wellington Hodgson, accountant, of Westport, all gave evidence of having been employed as clerks at the totalisator on the day the offence took place. Each said that his suspicions had been aroused over certain tickets submitted for payment after the fifth race, and likewise each had referred the doubtful presentations to the totalisator contractor, who had authorised payment. Evidence that, in company, with Detective Stewart, he had investigated the matter, was given by Detective Sergeant Thompson, who said that when shown the alleged forgeries, accused admitted having cashed them, but said that they had been given to -him to cash by a woman whose name he did not know. ACCUSED’S STATEMENT Accused later admitted that he had made a stamp, and he took the detectives to his home in Blaketown, where the 43 bundles of tickets, stamp pad. bottle of ink, and the stamp, which was produced, were found. He made a statement which was produced in the Court. A , Accused said in his statement that on March 25 he was cycling along Omoto road, and when about half a mile out of town, he found . a small fibre suitcase lying on the side of the road. On examining it he found that it contained bundles of unstamped, unused totalisator tickets, a bottle of ink. and a pad. He took the case ana contents to his home. It then dawned” on him that he might be aole to make a stamn and use them at the trotting meeting which was to be held at Victoria Park on March 29. He had on various occasions attended race meetings, and he considered that the code stamp would not be difficult to make. On March 23 he made vanous letters out of lead, as well as making numbers. MODUS OPERANDI Accused stated that on March 29 he attended the trotting meeting. On the fifth race he purchased a £1 ticket each way on No. 3 horse. He then cycled to his home, a short distance from the course, listened to the result of the race over the radio, and ascertained that it had been won by Lillian Mac. The winner was No.. 3 in the race book.' Accused continued: “I then made up my stamp with the letters and numbers I had made the previous night. I had the code word from the tickets I had purchased. I stamped seven £1 tickets each way on No. 3, the winner of the race, and four £1 tickets on horse No. 4, which ran third. I returned, to the racecourse and cashed the tickets, and received payment for all or them. The win and place tickets were cashed

at one window, and No. 4 horse at the place window”. Honey continued that those were the only tickets which he had stamped and cashed. He had been in debt, and had been pressed for payment. That was the only way which he could see of getting out of debt and starting again. He realised that what he had done had been foolish. He told the Court that he had served three years with the New Zealand forces in the Pacific. The bundles of tickets, stamp, ink pad, ink and carbon paper which he had handed to the police were what he used to commit the offence. The small suitcase in which he found the tickets had since been destroyed by him. He added that the money he obtained had been used to pay debts, with the exception of £lO, which he still had. Accused was committed for sentence as stated. Bail was renewed in accused’s recognisance of £lOO, and one surety of £lOO, a condition being that he report daily to the police.