ASKED NO QUESTIONS

NZ Truth, Issue 1262, 6 February 1930, Page 3

ASKED NO QUESTIONS

Wrong Mr. McGrath Took Postal Notes and Said Nothing

THOUGHT WAS BETTING-MONEY

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.) When opportunity knocked at the door of Denis McGrath he didviiot allow it to pass unheeded. The "promptitude with which he seized his opportunity resulted m his obtaining seven and sixpence, but it brought m its train serious trouble.

"TWO postal' notes to the value of 7/6 *X were posted to "Mr. McGrath, Post Office, Christchurch," and, being Mr. McGrath, Denis collected them and cashed them. The fact that he was the wrong Mr. McGrath did not worry him; he believed m making the most of his' opportunities. Later he was charged before Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., m the Christchurch Magistrate's Court,, with the theft of the notes, and entered a plea' of not guilty to the charge. 1 Chief-detective J. Carroll, said that on June 11 Mrs. B. Walshed posted the notes to Mr. McGrath, a representative of a poTtrait firm, but did. not enclose a letter wfch them. '■ The package had been registered, and when McGrath called" at the post office he was given a card asking him to call at the registered letter counter for a letter. " When McGrath handed the card to a clerk at that counter he was asked where he was expecting the letter from, and ho replied from Brighton. As the letter had been sent from New Brighton the clerk gave it to him. Later Mr. McGrath, the representative of the portrait firm, called at the post office, and when he did not get the letter he made enquiries and learned that the notes had been posted. Denis McGrath was m the habit of getting his letters at the post office, and the. clerk remembered 'having given him the registered letter from New Brighton. Denied the Theft Another clerk at the post office interviewed Denis McGrath with reference to the matter, and he denied having received a registered letter from New Brighton, stating that he received one from Culverden. The chief- detective said that the theft dated from the time McGrath had denied to the post office clerk that he had received a letter from New Brighton, for if he had admitted having done so his retaining the money might not have been intentionally dishonest, as he might have thought it was for him. '" McGrath said that he was m the habit of receiving money from Culverden and the North Island posted to him at the post office.

'•' He was expecting money from New Brighton at the time he received the postal notes and thought that these were for him. The fact that there was no enclosure with them did not puzzle him, as he expected a letter the following day. He could not say whom the money was from, but thought that it was sent to him to put on a horse. He did not suspect that it could be meant for anyone else. Chief-detective Carroll: You got the letter on June 11?— Yes. No Instructions No one told you to put it on a horse? —No. You had received no instructions since? — No. . It wasn't until October that the post office clerk saw you about the matter, and didn't it strike you then that the money was not for you? — No. I Didn't the clerk tell you that it was for another Mr. McGrath? — Yes, but I thought it was for me; I was expecting a letter. Mr. M. J. Burns, who appeared for McGrath, said that the man appeared ito be sub-normal. Counsel, knew that he was under the attention of a doctor. Probably he took the money with the I Idea of getting something for nothing. He was a single man and was out of work; he had no steady employment. McGrath was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within twelve . months, and was ordered to refund the 7/6.