Tennis Club Member Fined £20 for Theft

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 752, 27 August 1929, Page 1

Tennis Club Member Fined £2O for Theft

FELL INTO TRAP TOOK MARKED COINS I “It was a mean theft, even worse I than shoplifting—more deliberate.” With this comment, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., imposed a fine of £2O on Philip Hugh Bailey, who pleaded guilty at the Police Court j this morning to a charge of theft. Bailey was arrested as a result of a trap set by fellow-members of a tennis club, who had missed money from their clothing. The charge against accused, a sales- | man aged 26, was that he stole 10s I from Stewart Victor Fernandy on Saturday. Mr. A. H. Johnstone appeared for Bailey. “Accused is a young man, only 26,” said counsel. “He is married with one child, and holds an excellent position in the city. Until Saturday he was a respected member of this tennis club. For some reason, inexplicable to me, he succumbed to the temptation to commit what is a mean theft. Bailey bitterly regrets his action now and he has done the manly thing by pleading guilty and not adding perjury to the other offence. Fellow-members of the | tennis club and his employer have | offered to speak for him.” Counsel asked that Bailey be ad- | mitted to probation, submitting that the humiliation accused had suffered j was the greatest punishment he could ! have had. “It will take all Bailey’s : strength of character to rehabilitate himself,” added counsel. The Magistrate: What are the facts of the case? According to Senior-Sergeant O’Grady, members of the suburban tennis club, of which Bailey was also a member, had for the last six months or more been missing money from their clothes. The situation had become so serious that a resolution had been passed to set a trap and catch the offender. Fernandy, who was captain of the club, had bored holes In the wall of the dressing room. He had borrowed a pair of trousers from another member of the club and placed marked coins in the pocket. Bailey had' been caught and was found to have four coins with the captain's initials on them in his pocket. He had taken only 10s of the 18s that was left. The captain and the secretary had sent for the police and Bailey had been arrested. Fernandy, captain of the club, stepped into the witness-box to ask for leniency on behalf of accused. “I have seen most of the club members and all the committee, and I am speaking on their behalf," he said. Surprise at Bailey’s lapse was expressed by Arthur James HutchißSon, who had an interest in the company by which the man was employed. “1 have every confidence in the man,” said witness. “He has handled big sums of money for me and since I heard of this I have had a special check made and there is not a penny missing. 1 am sure this is an isolated action.” “There is nothing to be gained by probation,” said the magistrate, imposing the fine. Default of the fine was fixed at a month's imprisonment, and accused was given a week in which to' find the money.