LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1867, 29 September 1913, Page 5

LAW REPORTS.

; SUPREME COURT. 1 PRISONERS SENTENCED^ I FIVE YOUTHFUL HOUSEBREAKERS 1 j Five prisoners were brought up for [ sentence before His Honour Sir. Jus- . tice Chapman in tlio Supremo Court on ) Saturday. Mr. H. H. Ostler appeared ' on behalf, of the Crown. James Leonard Lomax and Philip O'Donnell had pleaded guilty to two \ charges of breaking and entering and - theft, one at Aucklanld, and one at , Wellington. The prisonors wore both i youths, of respectable appearance. • Lomax handed a written statement to i His Honour, but O'Donnell had noth- ■ ing to say. In his statement, Lomax eaid that ' he had been trying to obtain work. He ■ was 17 years of age. i His Honour: You seem to have been I looking for work in the wrong place, [ about hotels. You ought to be in the • oountry; you are a big, strong fellow. I There is plenty of work everywhere. You do not seem to have restored tho property you stole. Lomax: We gave the police every as- , sistance. We told them where tho property was. Mr. Ostler: At Wellington, your Honour, they stole £176 13s. 6d. worth of jewellery, and £27 in monoy. So far jewellery to the value of £153 15s. 6d. has been recovered. The remainder of tho goods and tho money had riot been traced. In the Auckland case, they hjd stolen £8 9s. 6d. worth of jewellery and £4 in money. Tho money had not been recovered. His Honour said that the prisonors could not have spent the money in the time. They must have it hidden somewhere. The prisoner Lomax was sentenced to 18 months' reformatory treatment. It was clear, said His Honour, that he had deliberately set out on a career of crime, and must be checked. O'Donnell seemed to have joined in these organised raids on houses whose owners were absent, and his crimes had been systematically planned. Ho would be sentenced to twelva months' reformatory treatment. _ His Honour recommended that the prisoners' bo sent to Lnvercargill. William Collins, Walter Wakefield, and William Frederick Letheby were also set forward for sentence on charges of breaking, entering, and theft. Mr. Ostler said that Collins was 22 years of age, and a native of Queensland. He came to Now Zealand in January last, and was for some time employed as assistant steward on tfyo coastal steamer Kennedy, and later at hotels! Ho had always given satisfaction to his employers. In Julylast he went to Wanganui, where ho was convicted on a charge of theft.' He then stole a bicycle at tho Wanganni wharf, and set out for Wellington, in company with the other prisoners. The tbeft with which they were now charged had been committed at Marton and Shannon on the way down, four bicycles having been stolen. ■ Wakefield was 19 years of age, a halfcaste Maori, and a, native of Kaiapoi, Canterbury. He had been employed as a labourer at Wanganui, whero ho had been convicted of petty theft. He also stole a bicycle at Wanganui wharf. _ Letheby was 17 years of age, a native of Port Augusta, South Australia. H9 had been employed at the Grand Hotol, Wellington, where he gave every satisfaction. He was also working for a month at a hotel in Wanganui, which lir* left with tho other prisoners on September 6. Tho police report, said 'Mr. Ostler, was to the effect that the prisoners were foolish rather than criminally inclined. Tho thefts at Wanganui had only been of fruit. His Honour: Docs that apply in all three cases? . Mr. Ostler: Yes, your Honour. His Honour: Well, it is very difficult to know what to do with them. I don't like to send them to gaol in tho ordinary way, but if I sentence them for the purpose of reformative treatment the term must bo a fairjv lengthy one in order for it to do them any pood. -I shall speak to the Chief Justice on the matter, and in the meantime the prisoners will stand remanded.