SALE OF CAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 753, 28 August 1929, Page 11

SALE OF CAR

MECHANIC’S FALSE PRETENCE YEAR’S PROBATION Selling a car on which he still owed £62 16s under a hire-pur-chase agreement resulted in Leonard Ernest Smith being admitted to probation for 12 months at the Police Court this morning. Smith, a mechanic, aged 29, was charged with obtaining £2O from Maxwell Harlan d Walker at Heriot on May IS by falsely representing that a motor-car he had sold to Walker was his own property, whereas he held it under a hire-purchase agreement and still owed £62 16s on it. Mr. McLiver entered a plea of guilty on his behalf. According to Detective-Sergeant Kelly, Smith had purchased the car from a Christchurch garage in February. He had paid a deposit of £35 14s and entered into a hire-pur-chase agreement for the balance, the total price of the car being £9S. He had then been transferred to Southland. He had taken the car to a garage there and sold it for £2O. There was restitution to be made. Mr. McLiver said that Smith was a young man living with his parents in an Auckland suburb. He had gone South two or three years ago and done fairly well. He had bought the car and then lost his position and found himself in financial difficulty. He had then gone to Wellington, but failed to find a position there, so had returned to Auckland. “He is working now and restitution can be made immediately,” said counsel, asking that Smith be admitted to probation. Mr. Campbell, probation officer, agreed that Smith would do well on probation. “He comes from a very respectable family,” he added.

Smith was admitted to probation for a year on the condition that restitution was made immediately.