SUPREME COURT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 195, 13 May 1920, Page 6

SUPREME COURT

CRIMINAL SESSIONS A BRAVE MAN IN TROUBLE Tho criminal sessions of the Supreme Court, presided over by His Honour Mr. Justice Heidman, were continued yesterday. Mr. P. S. K. Macassey (of the Crown Law Office) conducted the prosecutions. James Harold O'Brien was charged with having stolen from the Gresham Hotel a suit-case and contents, valued in all at about .£lO. Accused pleaded not guilty, lie was not represented by counsel. Mr. Macassey said. that Thomas Mullaney, the owner of articles mentioned in the indictment, visited Wellington on January 19, and stayed at the Gresham Hotei. - He left two suit-eases in the hotel, and very shortly afterwards one of the cases was missing - . Evidence would be Riven that some of the articles contained in tho missing'suit-case had been traced to the possession of the accuscd; and that the suit-case and a tiepin had been sold to second-hand dealers bv someone similar in appearance to the accused.' • Evidence was given on the lines indicated by. Mr. Macassey.' Detective-Ser-geant Carney mentioned that property relating to nine charges; liko the one under consideration had been -traced to the possession of the accused. , Accused said he did not wish to give evidence. From the dock ho told the jury that he had served four years at tho front. He had been gassed twice and wounded once in tho head. _ He had won the D.C.M. and the Belgian Gold Medal, and had been twice mentioned in dispatches. His wound had caused him to suffer from occasional lapses of memory. • Commenting (in tho course summing up) upon the military Tecord claimed by O'Brien, His Honour said he had no doubt that tho prisoner had served with distinction at the front,_ nnd had bv his conduct given satisfaction to his officers. But distinguished service would not, of course, afford any excuse for crime, and tho jnry must consider the evidence without permitting themselves to be influenced by sentiment. _ After a retirement of about forty minutes, the jurv returned a verdict that O'Brien was "guilty of having received the goods while ho knew that they had been stolen. . His Honour sentenced the prisoner to twelve months' reformative treatment, and ordered that the term should be concurrent with a sentence of three years which he was already serving His Honour reminded O'Brien that if he behaved himself in gaol he might be released before the expiration of his sentence, and given another opportunity of conducting himself as a respectab.e memi bcr of the community., ASSAULT AND ROBBERY. Harold Coley was again placcd in the dock. Prisoner had on the previous daj pleaded not guilty to a charge of i assaulting Albert' W. Ivirkland and robbing him of 335. Gd. in money, a necktie, and a Hotel Workers' Union card. _ Accused's counsel (Mr. H. H. Cornish; first told the jury that ■ they; wonr entitled to consider two facts: (1) That nothing had been known against the accused before the charge was brought; (2) that the accused had elected to enter the witness-box and submit, himself to crossexamination. The mam contention toi the defence was' that the Crown relied | not upon, proof but upon conjecture tc convict the accused'. Detective Trieklobank, counsel . submitted, was snbjeci to professional bias"; he had inferred the assault and inferred the robber)'. Mr. Macassey rose to t protest agamsl the references to Detective Tncklebank but resumed his seat when Mr. Justice Herdman remarked: Don t trouble, Mr Macassey. There, is no need to trouble. Mr. Cornish said he had no iwentioii of suggesting that Detectiyo Tricklebank had told an untruth. , ■ "It is a question for you to decide whether Detective Tricklebank has xolc the, truth; if, he has told. the .truth « not' that an end of the case, said His Honour to the jury in the course of hu 6umming-up of the evidence. After considering their verdict toi about twenty minutes, the jury found the prisoner guilty. Sentence vas'deferred.. ASSAULT CAUSING BODILY HARM Harry Handle (defended by Air. H. P. O'Leary) was placed in the dock' on t charge of having assaulted Mary Fake 60 as to cause her'nciual 3)0«ilv r hnrro. • Mr. Macassey said that on March 1. accused struck the woman Fake (wh< was his housekeeper) on the head witt a broom. After the blow she fell dowi tome steps. On the. morning of. the as, sault she had arrived home more or le« under the influence of liquor./ She hac made a disturbance and broken a window. Evidence would sho\i that when she was admitted to tho hos ,pital slip was suffering from a wound oi the head and from two broken Tibs. Under cross-examination bv ilr O'Lc-arv. the witness Fake said that be fore the assault she gave some bad answers" to a Tomark that accuflcd matte She thought it was with: a brick tha; she broke the window. She knew she had no right to treat the window as slu did. As a. matter of fact, she had beei ■"put outside to see if she would keei quiet." „ ~ . Mr O'Leary did not call evidence, mi addressed the jury upon the evidenci given by the Crown witnesses. Accused said counsel, admitted that he strut) at the woman with the broom. It wn; submitted, however, jthat. Fakes aniurics "were duo to nothing that Jmuhlli had donei The evidence had, 6howi that Fake was under the ( influence o. liquor, nnd that after the blow was .struck she fell down a number of stops It ■ was not unlikely that her fall; wa' due to the condition into which 6he hat got by drinking. . > • The jury found the prisoner, guilty Sentence was deferred. INDECENT ASSAULT. Arthur Harry Hart, by profession f vaudeville arFist, pleaded not guilty to t charge of indecent assault upon a male Mr. H. F. O'Leary defended. The Crown alleged that Hart commit the offence upon one of two little bovs whom he found playing about the rocks at Lyall Bay. The second boj was stated to have witnessed the occur rence. • Harft entered the witness-box, and de: nied that he had been guilty of any immorality with the children. _ I Leslie Wharton, a vaudeville perform er. said that he had known the accused for about twenty years. Hart had always been eonsielered decent and respectable bv all who knew him. Witness had never seen hiin take drink or give anv indication' of vicious tendencies. The'jury, after an hour's retirement found the prisoner guilty. Sentence was deferred. ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO MURDER. Aubrey Ibell, alias _ Walter James Smith, was charged with having at Is land Bay attempted to murder Williair Murphv and John Murphy. There wai n furthor charge against him .of steal ing from the Murphys' -home articles o! n total value of ,£l6 10s. The prisoner pleaded not guilty, ane as his counsel (Mr. H. 11. Cornish) wa* not preparal to go on with tho case till to-day, an adjournment was granted. NORWAY STREET ASSAULT. '' James Newberry, for whom Mr. A. B Sievwright appeared, was set at the'bai to answer a chargo of assault with intent to do bodily harnu He pleadcc guilty, and on the application of Mr Sievwright was remanded till to-day. When the case was before the Lowel Court, evidence was given that accused entered by night a houso in Norwaj Street (off Aro Sh-eot), and attackeel £ Mrs. Cooper and her sister, Miss Skjotli with an iron bar. Both women receiv, cd injuries that necessitated their re raovnl to tho hospital. THEFT FROM THE PERSQN Therosa Russell pleaded guilty to a charge of theft from the person. She was remanded till to-day. Tho Court rose at 5.15 p.m. At 9.4; tills morning several prisoners will come up for sentence. ...'