TRIAL IN THE CELLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1615, 5 December 1912, Page 5

TRIAL IN THE CELLS.

BY THE POLICE, SEVERE COMMENTS BT JUDGE. (By Telegraph—Press Association,) ( Auckland, December 1 Some comments on the duties of police constables were made by Mr. Justice Edwards during the hearing of a case at the Supreme Court to-day. One of the witnesses, a police constable, produced a notebook "to refresh his memory," and stated prisoner had eaid when examined by witness at the police station. The constable'e evidence revealed the fact that prisoner had been, subjected to a severe cross-examination at the station. After .witness had concluded his evidence, the Judge said that, though the constable had doubtless meant well, he would be wise to take the advice given to constables by his (the speaker's) • illustrious predecessor, Judge Richmond, who, in a similar case, had laid down a maxim that the duty of a police constable in charge of a prisoner was "to keep his ears open his eyes open, and his mouth shut." At the conclusion of the case, his Honour, in summing up, Btated that he took strong exception to the way in which the prosecution had strained for a conviction. The manner in which accused had been examined prior to his trial was not allowed under the English Constitution, nor, indeed,\ under the laws of any civilieed country. It was true that ;n France and in Scotland a prisoner was examined before his trial, but he was examined by competent judges and not by police constables. Tho Judge reviewed the constable's evidence, and said that there was no doubt in his mind that the examination had been "a sort of trap" for accueed. It was very improper according to English notions for the police to .adopt such practices. If an examination were to be made it should be made by a responsible person, and not by a young constable burning with zeal and anxious'to gain his stripes. He-expressed the hope that there would bo no recurrence of such practices as long as he was on the bench.