THEFT BY WOMAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 17 October 1942, Page 2

THEFT BY WOMAN

AMERICAN SERVICEMAN’S MONEY ADMITTED TO PROBATION Wellington, This Day. In the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, yesterday, Nancy Catherine Bradley, married woman and nursemaid, aged 28, was convicted and admitted to a year’s probation on a charge of stealj ing 127 dollar bills, valued at £3B 13s 3d, the property of Joseph H. Cooper, an American serviceman. In evidence Cooper said he met accused about 10 o’clock on Thursday night and went with her and other companions to a house in the city where there was some drinking. He and accused were together in Lambton Quay early yesterday morning. They stood in a doorway for a time and then walk ed northward for a short while, when he found his wallet was missing. When he left his ship the previous afternoon he had about 150 dollars and £3O to £35 in English money. With the woman he walked back to the doorway and she picked up the wallet, but the money was missing from it. He complained o£ the loss to a policeman, accusing the woman of theft. He believed he had seen some money on the pavement near where the wallet was pickd up. He was a bit intoxicated at that time. Constable Miller stated that he was in Lambton Quay yesterday, and shortly before 6 a.m. he noticed a sailor and a woman arguing. He saw the woman pick up a wallet. Cooper called to him to search the woman, saying he had been robbed of 120 dollars. He saw no money on the ground where they were standing. Defendant handed him the wallet. There was only a 10s note in it. He then noticed a bundle of notes on the ground with a rubber band round it. This had not been there when he looked before. Defendant, giving evidence, said she was a married woman, and her husband was working at the railway workshops, they having been married six years. Following an illness she had been recuperating in the South Island and had recently been staying with friends in Wellington with her husband’s consent. She had been at the Majestic Cabaret on Thursday night, and on leaving there .about 11.50 p.m. she and a friend met Cooper and his friends. They went to a house in the city, where Cooper and his friends had a few drinks and gambled. She denied having touched any of Cooper’s money. The Magistrate, Mr C. Harley. S.M., said he had no doubt that the money was taken and that the money was dropped.—P.A.