BOGUS INSPECTOR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 December 1938, Page 8

BOGUS INSPECTOR

WOMAN’S STORY TO POLICE IN AUCKLAND ASSAULTED AND ASKED FOR MONEY. MAN LATER ARRESTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND. December 20. A young married woman of Armadale Road, Remuera, reported to the police today that a man gained admission to her house on the pretext that he was an inspector of electrical wiring and, after prefunctorily trying switches in various rooms, demanded £2 for Christmas, at the same time assaulting her about the mouth and face.

The woman told the police that this morning a man of about 30 years of age, well dressed, knocked on the back door and asked her whether she had experienced any trouble with the house lighting system. He carried a notebook with a list of names in it and said he was looking for power leakages. Ho asked to see the switchboard. “He looked genuine enough,” the woman said in an interview later, “and I allowed him to enter. I left him at the switchboard and went into the kitchen. He asked to see the powerpoints and I showed him through to the lounge room. As I turned away to return to the kitchen, he placed his hands over my mouth and demanded money.” The woman struggled to free herself and screamed for help, and he is said to have threatend her if she screamed again. Though she was nearly suffocated with the pressure of his hand on her mouth and nose, she continued, she struggled and managed to escape. After falling to the floor she freed herself and asked for a drink of water. Then the man again threatened her and said he wanted only money. The woman got a drink of water for herself and seized the opportunity of running away through the back door. The man is said to have followed hei-, but when , she screamed loudly he walked through the house and left by the front door. As soon as she had recovered her composure, the woman telephoned the police. The police made an arrest in the city tonight and a man will appear in the Magistrates’ Court tomorrow morning.