SUPREME COURT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 36, 6 November 1919, Page 10

SUPREME COURT

CRIMINAL SESSIONS ROBBERY FROM AN OLD MAN His Honour Mi. .Justice Chapman continued Urn hairing of criminal cases in the Supreme Court yesterday. •■ A Maori named Jack Taiiwhanga pleaded not guilty in Ihe ehnrgo 01' having on September 2l> ai-sanltcd an old man named Peter M'Mahon, and of baring- robbed him of .£l4l. Mr. IK S. JC. Macassey, of the Crown Law Olhec, appeared for the Crown, and the prisoner was not represented by counsel. Mr. John Butler was foreman of the jury. , Thr, facts of the case, as staled bv tho prosecution, wore that Peter M'Mahon. a contractor, while on a visit to Wellington from Christehurch, met tho accused and another Maori at the This tin inn Hotel, where all three had betn drinking. Tho Maoris vrero stranucivs to him, but he frulerntecd with them, and bought Ihem liquor. Later in the afternoon the accused invited M'Mahon to stav at "liis house in Lyall Bay." Accordingly, accompanied by the accused ana' tho other Maori, who could not be identified. M'Mahon howled a tramcar for I.vall Hay. When the. car reached Wellington Road tho three men alighted, ond. while they were walking along, it was allesrsd, the accused extracted from M'Mahon's pocket a roll of .£l4l in notes, nnd then the two men assaulted M'Mahon. snatched his watch, and ran away. M'Mahon subsequently informed' the police, and a few days later M'Mahon An- the accused at the bar of the Thistle Inn Hotel, and immediately gave him in charge. The accused decided not to Rive evidence, hut briefly addressed the jury, criticising the evidence given by the complainant. The iury retired at 12.25 p.m., and returned at 2.15 p.m., ana' found the prisoner guilty. Sentence was deferred until 10 o'clock this morning. THEFT FROM THE PERSON. Walter Henry Newman pleaded not guilty to tho charge that oh September 2!). at Masterton, ho did steal £40 in money from the person of Henry James Jackson, also to a charge of theft of an overcoat, valued at £\, tho property of the said 11. J. Jackson. Mr. T. Jordan, of Masterton, appeared for the accused. Mr. Frank Archer was foreman o£ the iury. Mr. Maca=sey briefly outlined the case, nnd saio that the accused had been guilty of a. mean and contemptible theft of money from a man who had befriended him. Henry James Jackson, fruit hawker, Masterton. said lie met accused in Wellington on September 24. The accused said he had got n job iu Masterton, but had no money. Wit new gave him 55., ond said ho would pay the fare to Masterton, and the acc.usert could pay it back later. Witness took the r.ceused to the Tlominion Hotel, and paid for his bed. Tho next day they went up to Masterton, and accused went to stay with witness over the week-end as he was not to go to work until Tuesday. On the Saturday they went to Carterton, and got some beer. When they returned from Carterton witness had .£l3 in his possession. Ho counted the money on the Sunnay, and also on Monday. The accused saw witness counting the money. Somewhere about 3 o'clock on Monday witness went to lie down; lie bad his money with him. Witness went to sleep, and did not wake until 7.10 p.m. Witness and accused were tho only ones in tho house. When he awoke he found that the accused had gone, and that his moiicy and overcoat had oisnppearcd. No evidence was called for the defence. His Honour briefly summed up,' and the iury retired at 3.30 p.m., nnff returned an hour later, and presented . a verdict of guilty. _ Sentence was deferred until this morning. ALLEGED INDECENT ASSAULT. Patrick Murphy, for whom Mr. H. F. O'Leary appeared, pleaded not guilty to a clinrgo of indecent .assault on a male on September 18. Mr. William Gamble was foreman of the iury. The evidence for the Crown ■ was .the same as that given in the Magistrate's Court. The offence was alleged to have occurred in the Thistle Tun Hotel. The boy was sent to the hotel by his mother to deliver some washjnn, and when the boy apt there he met the accused. 'l'h» case had not concluded when the Court adjourned last evening. CTIRISTCHURCH CRIMINAL . SITTINGS. By Telci"'n.nb—Pr?" A "cciat'on. Christehurch, November 5. At tho Supreme Court, Henry Trabncll Laing was found guilty of attempted carnal knowledge in respect to a girl under Ifi years of age and indecent assault. Sentence was deferred till tomorrow. John Lynch, a stonemason, was charged with 'having forged a totalisator ticket at tho Metropolitan Trotting Meetin" on August 15. entitling the holder of the ticket to a double-figure dividend on Dillon Direct, the winner of the Federal Handicap; also with having attempted to induce a totalisator clerk to net on it as if it were genuine, nnd in the alternative with having used tho ticket: knowin" it to bo a false document. Evidence for the Crown showed that the ticket was a clever forgery. It was suspected bv tho pav-out clerk, who closed the window in order to examine it. Accused went awav. but later returned to the totalisator house and demanded payment. ■Vocusod, in giving evidence on his own behalf, said ho chummed up with a soldier on the coures, and they betted together all the afternoon Tho ticket wn Riven him bv his friend to collect, and he had no idea that it was not genuine His Honour, in summing up, said if mist be remembered that there were one verv smart people to be found on nceeours'°s, and the accused -might have he on°"U a eatspaw. The juryafter a brief retirement returned a veulict oi not guilty and the prisoner was discharged. . DUNEDIX Bv Telcßrar-WPre'* Association. Dunedin, November 5. At the Sunreme Court John Bennett ron, a fellow fireman on the stcainer Westmorelalid, and was remanded for scnFdward Albert M'Cnmh «a« con;S nf a charge of attempting to innidatArtltr Wilson, at To Awnnu, t he display of a firearm and with aL-iihi" Wilson by the use of threaten. rpoliw the seriousness ot n s action, .u f; 1 was ordered toi be detained forirrformative purposes for a period of not ,nn five vear<=. At an Leslie Steven pi led uUvtothe theft of 1f« sacks o wheat and bran, the property of S eve and Co.. and James Brongh BniUj to receiving ihe wheat and bran famine them to have been stolen The ac e 4d were remanded for sentence.