VERDICT AMAZES JUDGE

Shannon News, 2 October 1925, Page 4

VERDICT AMAZES JUDGE

WOMAN ACQUITTED OF Til JUT. GOODS MUST BE RETURNED. Judge Woinarski expressed amazement in the Melbourne Court recently when a jury returned a verdict of not guilty against a woman who wafe charged with theft. Jean Merritt was charged with having stolen a bag from the house of Mrs. May Burton, at St. Kilda, and with having stolen a handbag from Miss Mavis Mangen, of North Fitzroy. An alternative charge of having received stolen property was preferred against he. The Crown Prosecutor (Mr. Macindoe) said that on June 7 Mrs Bur-

ton found that a handbag had been taken from a drawer in her bedroom. On June 25 Miss Mangen, while at 7 tending a woman who had fainted at a dance, had her handbag, containing a five-stone diamond ring, stolen. Later the police searched Merritt’s room and discovered two handbags and their contents, which were .identified by Mrs Burton and Miss Mangan respectively as belonging to them. During the search Merritt slipped out of the room and escaped, and was rearrested later. In her defence, Merritt, who was not represented by counsel, said that , she had purchased the articles in I Sydney. She could not produce re- I ceipts as she had lost them, but the ring identified by Miss Mangan was not a diamond ring. It -was a ring of white sapphires. The jury returned a verdict or not guilty on all counts. Judge Woinarski: You amaze me gentlemen. As the jury walked* out of Court Judge Woinarski said: I order the return of the goods to the rightful owners. Merritt: That ring belongs to me, Your Honour. Judge Woinaski: I am quite satisfied that the articles were stolen and have ordered their return to their rightful owners. Merritt was discharged.