SUPREME COURT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3044, 3 April 1917, Page 11

SUPREME COURT

PRISONERS SENTENCED

A RAILWAY CADET'S OFFENCE

' CHIEF JUSTICE'S REMARKS . Tho Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) | sentenced a number of -prisoners at a sitting of tbo Supremo Court yesterday morning. ... ' Mr. V. R. Meredith appeared for the Crown. • , Hubert Lyndon Marcr'o'ft, for. whom Mr.' H. F. O'Leary 'appeared, .had pleaded ■ guilty to a-charge of assault causing actual' bbdily harm'. Tho ofr. fence took place at. a station about 40 miles from Stratford. Mr. O'Leary said tho prisonor was a railway cadet*, and ■ only ■ seventeen years of age. ■ He assaulted his superior officer, but the act was one of mad--ness ■ mbi e; thftri anything else. . Tho prisoner had borne an excellent character previously, and it was to bo presumed that the dreary life of tho place at which he was .stationed had • been partly responsiblo for -the assault. His Honour interposed with the remark that the .prisoner had been: seen drunk. . Mr: O'Leary: But that was after tlao offence. •■ . . His Honour ■ replied that- tho occasion "he referred to was* not the same one as counsel was speaking .of.. In sentencing Marcroft,. His Honoursaid it was very difficult to knowi what to do with a young railway cadet such as the prisoner. Apparently'it was. not considered improper for. a.'railway .servant to drink. With some" railway companies in "America-, - if. an employee was seen entering- a .salpoh; or drink-, ing he was, at./'once.'-'dismissed.•• No doubt, when the. '-National "Efficiency Board understood; that'-'nb could be an efficient servant while ho' got driink it would dbal with tho problem.; A young fellow liko-. the prisoner, if seen drunk, ought, to'Jiavo ! been immediately dismissed. His Honour would havo thought tho stationm'aster would have acted as a father to.'such .h'o'ysi It was yory hard to .know-/what-to, do with -young-lads;-without aiy guidance or assistance.. If it had not been for -the', prisoner's size and age, His Honour : would not have granted ■ him probation. The case was one in which no permanent injury had been caused the victim of the assault, but it was nevertheless perhaps straining the provisions ,of the First Offenders' Probation. Act to grant the prisoner probation. ■ - i Marqrofli was granted puliation'...for. .'throe years: .'-He .was- ordered to .report monthly to the probation officer, to visit no township' iyi thout the probation officer's .consent, and -never in the first twelve months tn be found out of his'liouse after.7 p.m., •• ■ . "A WASTER'." , Thoralph Oswald George ■■■ Knudson, who had pleaded guilty to ,a charge of ' house-breaking and' 'tn.eft .'at Napier, asked to be put-upon probation. His Honour'Said-tlie prisoner appeared from his record to be a waster. .He would-be-sentenced to .three years' reformative treatment; ' - ' '• THEFT FROJI A DWELLINa- ■ Charles Walker, a youth, who' had pleaded guilty-to,a charge of theft from a dwelling ;at Wellington, was sentenced to 18 months' reformative treatment in Invercargill Gaol. RECEIVING- STOLEN PROPERTY. oames Cooper; had pleaded guilty in the -Lower: -Court to.-a -ohargo of -receiving stolen: property: at -Wellington. Mr. .O'Leary, •on behalf , of .tho prisoner, said the latter was 68 years of age. He had been a seafaring man all'his life, and had had to retire from' the calling owing to-his eyesight. Ho bought a tobacconist's 1 business' in Adb'laide Road, and -: received a quantity of - stolen tobacco.; from ; one Arthur Baillie. Tho prisoner ; did not know ' that. the tobacco was stolen until it was actually delivered. . It was when the prisoner saw what' a large quan r tity was brought; that ,ho realised for thb: first • time -that it must have' been dishonestly obtained. Cooper ; was. a first offender, and -meroy t might ! be shown to him as to -others-in similar cases. If ,he went to gaol he would come out not only broken in spirit, but in pocket also. Tho savings of his lifetime would be gone. ' ' ■ Mr.-"Meredith, submitted 'that, the of- ' ferine i was : a serious .one, tfS collusive thefts of a similar.nature were rather common. : Hi's, .Honour said ho .would take time to?.consider ;the matter. . 'Sentenoe- wasdeferred till' Wednesday. : . THJSF.T. Arthur Baillie, for whom Mr. P. W. .Tack'soh appeared,"' had ' pleaded, guilty, in 'the Lovver 'Court to . stealing the tobacco which.; Cooper ■ was charged ' with receiving.'.... • JMx, Jackson ,said Baillie wa's.,a first offender.. He was a married man, 26 years 'of agoj'and ertiployed as; a, carter,'. He :]iad ino vices, and had ; merely yielded :in this instance' -to , sudden temptation'. '■', "All. the stolen' property ..'recovered'. The' prisoner., might -be put upon probation. Sentence in,this; 'case;'.also ;was de- - ferrcd till Wednesday.' v- • -INDECENT ASSAULT. ' - Edward Welis Selienjcel, the offender in- what'His'-Honour characterised as a; , particularly ..bad case, of indecont assault, was. sentenced to three years' hard labour .on. qacli ,of two charges. Hi's Honour said'that in inflicting "the sentence -he was 'taking into consideration .the'.' fiict t.liat' tlie prisoner N had pleaded, giiilty. and had, thus avoided intensifying his ' offence •'by bringing' info'Cpiirt tile, little girls, who were' the. victims of the'assaults.