OFFICER WHO BOUGHT CAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 454, 8 September 1928, Page 15

OFFICER WHO BOUGHT CAR

FALSE PRETENCES CHARGE ONLY HAD A HALFPENNY (From Our Own Correspondent.) WHAN GARB I, Friday. Said to have been an officer in the Indian Army, Geoffrey Edward Gibson Foster, aged 26, appeared in the Police Court to-day charged with obtaining from Jennie Symes, clerk to a dairy company, a car valued at £l5O, by falsely representing that he was of substantial means and possessed a farm property at Morrinsville. Evidence for the prosecution showed that the parties met in Auckland, when a proposed sale of the car was made, defendant offering to come to Whangarei to complete tho deal. He arrived and took the car for a week’s trial. Subsequently he said an expert’s valuation was £75 to £IOO, and he offered to pay an instalment of £45, or £lO a week for hire if he did not buy. When she could not trace him she told the police. Defendant had admitted having no money or assets when he bought the car, and no prospects of paying at the time. When arrested he had a halfpenny in his pocket. Defendant pleaded not guilty, reserved his defence, and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial.