BETTING FRAUD

Hokitika Guardian, 30 July 1931, Page 3

BETTING FRAUD

ALTERED TELEGRAM. A CONVICTION RECORDED(By Telegraph—Per Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 29. ... Found guilty of conspiring to defraud, involving an alteration to a. betting telegram, Alfred Jansen, aged 45, a restaurant keeper, of uanguiiui, was to-dav before the Chief Justice. Be was remanded for sentence until tomorrow. This nas the second eas- Inlaid concerning the alteration of a hutting telegram. The charge was that Jansen conspired to defraud Peter Healey, tobacconist, Wanganui, of £B3 ss, arid, further, that he attempted to obtain money from Healey by false pretend s. Evidence was given by Hie Crown on the same lines as that at the trial of John Mai 11 ;In d 7 ~ \vh'g" "Wa S' “Kef: t ftt er!' on a similar charge. It was alleged that Jansen came to Wellington, and handed in a telegram at Te Aro I’ost Office, worded “Singleton,” and signed “0. Jansen.’’ This telegram, it was claimed, indicated that Jansen wished to put £ls on the horse iXinglebou, running in the Remuera Hurdles at Auckland, on June 6th. When the telegram reached Healey, the word “Singleton"’ was not on it, but the words “High Pitch,’ which horse, it was known at the G.P.O. in Wellington at 1.17 p.m., won the race. •His Honour, in summing up the case, said that all sorts of possible doubts were suggested in tlie case, but the point upon which the case turned was; “Was the telegram when handed in at Te Aro Post Office in the same condition as it is now?'’ If the elegram was altered, it could not have been done except by a pre-arrangement with the accused. His Honour pointed out how bad writing on the telegram had caused the counter clerk to ring the name “Healey” and write it again, and also the name- in the body of the telegram. He. drew the attention of the jury to the fact that the letters “itch” in “High pitch” were outside the ring which the clerk said he put round the word “Singleton,'’ which, he said, was the name' in the telegram. He also put the numbei of words on the telegram, which would have been nine, instead of eight had the name been “High Pitch.

The jury were absent for 33 minutes, and they gave a verdict of guilty on the counts of conspiracy and false pretences.