Young Man’s Bad Record

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1922, Page 4

Young Man’s Bad Record

ESCAPE FROM MENTAL HOSPITAL. CHRISTCHURCH, February 17. At the Supreme Court, Wallace John Bruce Carter, alias Warren Turnbull, came up for sentence for theft and issuing valueless cheques. Prisoner’s counsel described the case as an extraordinary one. Carter was the son of a bank manager in Sydney. He had a. mental breakdown when he was eighteen years old. Later, he served on Gallipoli and in Egypt and Franco lie was wounded, gassed and shellshocked. Discharged before the Armistice he returned to Australia, where he was sent to a mental hospital. He escaped, and, not being recaptured, was discharged ordinarily. He was a quiet decent man, but suffered from strange turns, during Which ho was not morally responsible. The Crown Prosecutor said the prisoner had lived expensively. He had supported himself by issuing valueless cheques. Mr Justice Adams said he would deal with the caise apart from the question og insanity, which could bo inquired into by the proper authorities. Prison*!’ had established a bad record ip the Dominion. He was sentenced to twolve months’ reformative treatment.