THEFT CHARGE FAILS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 415, 25 July 1928, Page 13

THEFT CHARGE FAILS

STORY OF LOST POUND NOTE CASE AGAINST CANVASSER Harold Herbert Bressey, an insurance canvasser, pleaded not guilty at the Police Court this morning to a charge of stealing £1 from Mary McGlynn. Mrs. McGlynn said she had left the pound note on a dresser near tl\e kitchen door and had gone to her bedroom, leaving the back door open. She heard someone call her and answered that she would be out in a minute. On returning to the kitchen she found the pound note gone apd, from the verandah, saw Bressey’s head and shoulders as he walked along the footpath. Later Bressey had called and given her a pound, though denying that he had taken the money. For defendant, Mr. G. P. Finlay said that, hearing no reply when he called, Bressey had left without seeing Mrs. McGlynn. When he heard that a complaint regarding the lost money had been made at his office he conferred with his partner on the round. Mrs. McGlynn told them that, had she not lost the money, she would have taken out a fresh policy for her husband. As the commission on this policy would have been 30s they had considered it politic to give Mrs. McGlynn a pound. By this means they would have lost nothing and gained 10s and a contented policy-holder. The giving of the money was not a confession of guilt. “Shall I put my client in the box?” asked counsel in conclusion.

“There is no need to do that,” said Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M. “I am not going to convict him.” The case was dismissed.