SUPREME COURT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 979, 21 November 1910, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

| BURGLARY IN HANKEY STREET. GRIFFITHS FOUND GUILTY. I The criminal sittings of the Supremo Court wore continued on Saturday, tne Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) presiding. Mr. T. Neavo prosecuted for the Crown. John Griffiths, who had been acquitted on tho previous day on, a' charge of housebreaking, was placed in the dock, and was charged with breaking and entering tho dwelling of, Julia Bryant, am { stealing therefrom' .512, her property, and .£3, the property of John "Warden. - Accused, who pleaded ■ not guilty, was, defended by Mr. G.'H..Fell. ' , Mrs. Julia. Bryant, of . Hankey Street, Wellington, said that she- went .out on the/afternoon of August' 19, leaving in a snuff-box the sum of .£l2. in gold and a farthing. When sho returned, the drawer in which the box had been placed showed signs of having been broken open, and the box and money wero gone, ohe identified tho box and the farthing (produced). John Warden, carpenter, a boarder at Mrs. Bryant's, said that on returning from work at 6 p.m. on August 19 -he found that six shillings had been taken from a drawer, a half-sovereign from a ■pocket ■of his Central Mission Band uniform, <22 in gold from another pocket, and a quantity of silver. Marion Armitage, a little girl, said Griffiths lodged at her mother s house some weeks ago.' Witness found the snuffbox (produced) behind the rubbish tin, and used it to keep her doll's clothes m. : Ellen Armitage said the prisoner was her nephew, and ' formerly lodged with her, when ho was working on tho wharf and elsewhere.' He left her house soon after August. Her little daughter gave her tho snuff-box. Witness found, the farthing (the same which had just been identified by Mrs. Bryant) on the floor when sweeping ono day. About the time the box was found prisoner gave her somo money for his board. Prisoner bought somo musical instruments about that time, also a gramophone with numerous records. Sho asked him where lie . got tho money. He said from Mr. Pope," and added that there was *£30 more to come to him. When lie went to Christchurch, he took witness's son with him, paying tho expenses. Rowland Henry Pope, Inspector of Industrial Schools, knew the accused., as an ex-inmato of an industrial school. Accused called on him at his office at the end of last August, and said he was out of work, and asked for somo money from the earnings accumulated. while he was under tho care of the Department, but as tho account was exhausted witness gave him none. Donald Armitago (eleven years old), Detective Gibson, Detective Rawle, Alice Armitage also -gavo evidence for '.the prosecution. Mr. Fell did not call evidence, but addressee! the jury.. ■ ' _ Prisoner was . found guilty, and remanded until to-day for sentence. FIRE AT A STABLE. A. FINDING OF "NOT. GUILTY." , Cornelius Moloney pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to set fire to a stable in Grant Road, the property of John Lane, on September 10. Air. H. 1\ O'Leary appeared for the accused. Lano is a cab proprietor, whose stable and residence aro in, Grant Road, and the accusal had been living there and giving somo assistance in tho stable, though not actually in his employ.. Mr. Neave, in outlining tho case for the Crown, said that somo little time before the fire accused asked Lane to use his influence to get him a cabman's license. Lano did nothing in the matter, and it was suggested that prisoner felt'aggrieved. On ■ the night of the fire prisoner, with another man named Andrews, who also stayed in the house, returned from'town at. about 10 o'clock. After attending to tho horses they went to tho kitchen and divided a bottlo of beer. Andrews went to bed, leaving' prisoner in tho kitchen. Tho latter afterwards went 'outside, and was seen by Mrs. Lane to go towards the stablo. It would further appear from the evidenco that prisoner first set firo .to some straw in the feed-room, adjoining tho stable, and when Mrs. Lane gave the alarm, anil Lano and Andrews came and. put out the fire, the prisoner transferred his operations to the stablo proper, and started a fresh firo there. It had been noticed that day that Moloney's swag was rolled np as if in readiness for departure. John Lane, in tho course of his evidence, said that during-tho fire ho hit accused with a bucket and asked him why he did that (i.e., started the fire). Prisoner did not reply. Prisoner did not help to put tho lire out, but, removed a horse /from the stable. George Andrews and Mrs. Lano. also gavo evidence. Constable Cummings said that at the time and place of the fire he asked accused what lie had to say. Accused answered, "Well, I might liavo had a motive." Witness' asked • what the .motive was, and accused then said, "I struck one match and it went out; then I struck another." Accused was not drunk, but had been drinking. When charged at the police station prisoner denied tho offence. Mr. O'Leary did not call evidence. He suggested in his address that accused started tho fire accidentally, and that his "motive" in going to tho stable was to get some beer that had been "planted" there. • After. a retirement of about 20 minutes tho jury presented a verdict of not guilt)', and tho prisoner was discharged. PRISONERS FOR SENTENCE. TO APPEAE TO-DAY. The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) has a long list of prisoners for sentenco to-day, including the following, who havo been convicted during tho' criminal sessions now in progress:—John Eornshaw and Henry Robert Hunt (burglary at Levin), Alexander Taylor (receiving on the high seas), Wm. Lavery (criminal offence), John Taylor (criminal assault), John Harrison (assault and robbery), and John Griffiths (breaking.and entering and theft). Other: prisoners to be . sentenced by the Chief Justice to-day are:-Freder-ick Blacklidge and John Charles Seymour, alias Charles Simpkiss. Blacklidge pleaded guilty in the Magistrate's Court, at Wellington to breaking and entering the dwelling of T. W. Hislop, Wellington, by day, and stealing clothing, blan- • kets, and other goods, valued at .£ls, and a bicycle worth *25, owned by Ernest Rough. Seymour pleaded guilty at New Plymouth on October 28 to the theft of jewellery valued at .£27 155., the property' of Elizabeth F. Johnstone. Tho following, who hare pleaded guilty in tho lower courts, are also to be sentenced to-day-.—Frederick Blacklidge, breaking and entering and theft, at Wellington; John Charles Seymour, alias Charles Simpkiss, theft of jewellery, New Plymouth.

• FOR TRIAL. THE FOOTBALL CASE AND OTHERS. ' Prisoners who .still have to be tried at the present criminal sessions are: William Watkins (alleged bigamy and falso declaration under x tho Marriage Act), Francis Joseph Lyons (alleged serious offence), Leslie Ellis (alleged bigamy, Levin—re-trial), Arthur Wilson (alleged assault on a football field). Mr. T. Ncavo (who is appearing for the Crown) intimated on Saturday that ho desired to tako tho cases in tho abovo order.