ATTEMPTED MURDER
SENTENCE OF IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE. (By Telegraph.—Press 'Association.) Tlmaru, February 3. John Daintry Campbell Birch, aged sixteen years, who pleaded guilty at the Supreme Court yesterday to the attempted murder of James O'Connell, was sentenced to-day by Mr. Justice Denniston to imprisonment for life. His Honour delivered a lengthy address, stating the reasons for imposing the full sentence allo.ved by the law. "I do not aee," he said, "why the fact of your failuro to complete your purpose should place you in a better position, and deprive the public of protection. You will be cared for, vour nealth and disposition will be under observation, and it will be for the proper authorities to decide now, or in the future, whether you are a fit subject for reformatory treatment, whethor after adolescence a remission of your sentence may be justified. • I cannot anticipate the time, if ever, when such justification will occur. This course has been lately adopted in the case of a boy younger than you, who was convicted of sexual crimes which, mado his liberty dangerous to girls. I feel bound to sentence you to the heaviest punishment the law allows, leaving your future in the hands of those who will have control of it."
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2376, 4 February 1915, Page 9
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208ATTEMPTED MURDER Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2376, 4 February 1915, Page 9
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