THE BENNETT CASE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3756, 18 February 1928, Page 2

THE BENNETT CASE.

DECISION RESERVED

ALLEGED BOOKMAKER’S DOINOS.

Auckland, February 17. Described by the police as being “the biggest bookmaker in Auckland/’ Robert Francis Bennett of Vauxhaul Road, Devonport, was cross-examined in the Police Court when the hearing of charges which alleged he had loitered in Wairoa Road for the purpose of betting at the recent meeting of the Takapuna Jockey Club was resumed: The police statements alleged that Bennett had waited outside the racecourse to make bets. Chief Detective Hammond said Bennett was a bookmaker and had no other occupation. He stated that defendant had an office in Swans'on Street, where an unlisted telephone was to be found. On a road in Devonport a slip of paper bearing a “bumble bee” was picked up, the Chief Detective describing it as being one of Bennett’s race charts. Bennett had denied he was in Wairoa Road for betting, saying he had gone to the fence to have bets put on the totalisator for him.

After the cross-examination, Mr. Findlay contended that the police had failed to prove that Bennett had been at the races for the purposes of betting. “The question for me to decide is whether the tale 1 am told by the defence is a plausible answer or not,” said the Magistrate. Mr. Findlay: Exactly. Judgment was reserved.