FALSE PRETENCES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 28 November 1927, Page 6

FALSE PRETENCES

ISSUE OF VALUELESS CHEQUE. ACCUSED SENT TO PRISON. At the Napier Magistrate’s Court this morning, before Mr. A. W. Mowlem, S.M'., William Henry Moody (Mr. E. J. W. Hallett) was charged with obtaining, by false pretences, from Humphries & Co., Ltd., grocers, goods and cash to the value of £3 hy means of a valueless cheque. The accused pleaded guilty. Detective-Sergeant Butler stated that the accused was running a small fish shop in the town and formerly had an account with the Commercial Bank. As the result of a nuc-.ber of cheques written by him being dishonoured, witness saw him, strongly advising him not to write any further cheques. Not more than two days afterwards he issued the ciicque, the subject of the charge. The method employed in this case by the accused was to send his young brother with a note containing a chequqe for a tew pounds to buy a few shillings* worth of goods and receive change to make up the value of the cheque tendered. There were a number of other such cheques known to have been tendered. The accused had just completed a term of 12 months’ probation for theft. Mr. Hallett, in putting a plea for leniency, said that the accused was expecting about £lO the day that the cheque in question was issued, which would have been sufficient, to have met it. In sentencing the accused to one month’s imprisonment, His Worship said that tradespeople had to be protected from the circulation of valueless cheques.