In the Irish Courts
| Published date | 01 October 1962 |
| Date | 01 October 1962 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201836202600408 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Irish Courts
COURT
OF
APPEAL
IN
EIRE
FALSE PRETENCES: NEED TO ESTABLISH INTENT
The
People
(A.G.) v. Bristow
Bys. 32of
the
Larceny Act, 1916, an intent to defraud
is an essential ingredient of
the
offence of obtaining by
false pretences; and, although it is sufficient to allege in
the
indictment an intent to defraud generally, without alleging an
intent to defraud any particular person, it is none
the
less
true
that
the
jury
must
be directed on
the
necessity for proof of
intent, unless such intent can clearly be inferred from
the
facts: see R. v.
Ferguson
(9 Cr. App. Rep. 113).
In
The
People
(A.G.) v. Bristow (a note of which appears in 96
I.L.T.
&;
S.J.,
at p. 30), the accused was tried at the Circuit Criminal
Court on
ten
counts of obtaining money by false pretences.
He
had obtained
the
money by issuing cheques
that
were
not
met
at
the
bank.
His
defence was
that
at the time at which he
drew
the
cheques and obtained
the
money on
them
he fully
believed
that
there was a sufficient balance in his account at
the
bank to meet
them
or, in
the
alternative,
that
they would be
met
by way of an overdraft.
He
claimed, therefore,
that
at
no time had he issued acheque knowing
that
the
bank would
not
honour it.
It
is clear
that
this defence, if accepted by
the
jury, would suffice to warrant an acquittal: see R. v. Walne
(II
Cox. C.C. 647) in which
the
prisoner's belief
that
his
account would be in funds by
the
date at which it was agreed
that
the
cheque should be presented was held to be a sufficient
answer to an allegation
that
he had an intent to defraud.
In
practice, such a defence depends
upon
whether it sounds
sufficiently reasonable for
the
jury
to accept
the
accused's
statement as to his beliefs at
the
time at which he obtained
the
'chattel, money, or valuable security'.
In
Bristow's case (supra),
the
accused was convicted and
sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment on each count
297
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