PRISONER FAILS TO APPEAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 113, 25 February 1950, Page 8

PRISONER FAILS TO APPEAR

RELEASE ON BAIL PENDING APPEAL COMMENT BY JUDGE (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 24. "This appears to be another case, Mr Brown, of a man, sentenced to imprisonment and who has begun to serve his sentence, giving notice of appeal and, having ueen released as tne law directs, uses it as an easy means of, escape,” said Mr Justice Northcroft, when Ronald Spencer Lorgelly failed to appear in the Supreme Court to-day in support of his appeal against sentence.

Lorgelly, aged 19, a painter, appeared before Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court on February 3 for sentence on a charge of unlawfully converting a motor-car to his own use and he was ordered to be detained in a Borstal institution for two years. He gave notice of appeal against this sentence and the appeal was to have been heard yesterday.

Mr A. W. Brown, for the Crown, said it was another case of a man, appealing against a sentence and being released on bail without surety, in accordance with the law, making his escape. This . instance lent further weight to the comment made by his Honour on the matter when the Saint-Merat case was before the Court recently. “I might say that your Honour’s observations in that case have been forwarded to the appropriate authorities,” said Mr Brown. “Only two days ago, Lorgelly was before the Magistrate’s Court on a charge of being drunk,” continued Mr Brown.

“Was this getting drunk enjoyed, since his release pending the hearing’ of his appeal?” asked his Honour. “That is so,” replied Mr Brown. “Lorgelly has been living at New Brighton. He was last seen by the police at 8 a.m. in Pages Road. He had two suitcases and a rug and apparently was making out to the wilds. Inquiries show that, while he has been free as a result of his notice of appeal, Lorgelly has allegedly been issuing cheques round Christchurch and, if he were here to-day, the police would be very pleased to see him. “This case is, indeed, very similar to that of Saint-Merat, who also failed to appear for the hearing of his appeal and for whom, also, the police were looking because of offences allegedly committed while he was on release pending the hearing of his appeal. Your Honour may be interested to hear that Saint-Merat escaped to Australia. Word was recived only last night from the Australian police that he had been arrested at Gundagai for the same sort of offence for which he,was convicted here. He has been positively identified by his fingerprints. “I ask that Lorgelly’s appeal be dismissed for want of prosecution,” concltided Mr Brown. His Honour dismissed the appeal.