SUPREME COURT

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 162, 5 April 1921, Page 9

SUPREME COURT

PRISONERS SENTENCED YOUNG CRIMINAL SENT TO GAOL Yesterday afternoon, in the Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Salmond passed sentence on half a dozen prisoners who had pleader! guilty to various offences. Three were committed for sentence from the Wellington Magistrate's Court, two from Palmerston North, and one from Pahiatua. Mr. P- S. K. Macassey, appeared for the Crown. ’ George Frederick Murphy had pleaded guilty at Palmerston North to two charges of theft from a dwelling- Mr. J. C. L. Merton .of Palmerston North who appeared fox- the prisoner, said that he otfence was committed when, the young fellow was under the influence of liquor, and suggested that he should he sentenced to a term of reformative treatment His Honour said he could not take that course because the prisoner had already been twice convicted, and had served eighteen months’ reformative detention. ’ Hast yead he was convicted of theft from a dwelling, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and no did he ■ get out of gaol than he lapsed into a lite of crime. Murphy was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on each charge, the terms to be concurrent ■ Frederick Robinson, who pleaded .guilty at Palmerston North to breaking, entering, and theft, was the next to step into the dock, and he had nothing to say for himself. Tn February this year ho broke into a shop and stole goods and money, but there were no previous con- ' victions against the prisoner. His Ho - our said he could see no reason fofr admitting the prisoner to probation, ami sentenced him to nine months imprisonmeat. Forgery and Uttering. A young man named Gerald Thomas Silk alias Patrick Higgins, >.d pleadeu guilty in the Lower Court at Pahmtmi on two charges of forgery and uttering. His Honour said the prisoner was not a first offender, for in _ N ovember 1 astbe was convicted in Wanganui for theft from a dwelling, and a greatdeal of leniency had been extended to him. As Xas he was released he began a career of°crime, which showed that leniency in his case had been misplaced.. Silk was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on each charge, the tSrms to be concurrent. Life of Systematic Crime. The next to appear was Leonard Llewellyn Price, who was ,committed for sentence at Wellington last w ? four charges—two of theft, one of obtaining credit by means of a valueless cheque and one of obtaining .£3 by means o valueless cheque. The prisoner, who was not represented by counsel, handed Honour, after reading the letter, said that the prisoner’s only excuse was domestic trouble with his wife axid ri was not the excuse of an honest man. ’ The prisoner had led a life of systematic crime When a lad in 19M he had been convicted of theft, and sent to Burnham, and from then onward he continued his criminal career. In 1906 he had been convicted on three charges. o theft, and in the same year he had been co vieted of forgery Ind. hreakxng ™d e ' terin-. He had been convicted of then in 1907; in 1908 he hod been convictedl of false pretences, and breaking and in- and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. Tn 1909 he was convicted of for-ery, and was sentenceci to three years’ imprisonment. He then apparently served in the Expeditionary Force but in 1916 he resumed, his career, and received a of -three ve'irs’ imprisonment. Again in 1919 1 was sentenced to a term of reformative detention. "With a rrcord like, that remarked His Honour, I cah only treat vou as a systematic, criminal. His Hon onr remarked that there was one .charge of obtaining credit, and he doub d flier that could be classed as ah offence However, on that charge he him to come up for sentence when called upon. On the other three charges Price wa« sentenced to two years imprisonment. to be followed by two y car ® formative detention on each, the terms to be concurrent. His Bad Companions. John Leslie Batson, a south who last week pleaded giiilty to the theft of jewellery from a house in Mortimer Ten ace, ■Wellington, when asked if he had anythin- to say, said that he got in with bad companions, and to a certain extent had been persuaded by them to commit the crime. After leaving M elhngton he went to Dunedin, where, he claimed, he had lived honestly, and he thought the police reports would bear that out. He had a term of three years’ probation, which had not been completed, and it His Honour could extend that period he would get away into the country, and endeavour to lead an honest life. -His Honour said that in August, 1929. the prisoner had been convicted on three charges of breaking, entering, and theft, and wilful damage, and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Instead of tryin- to'lead a better life, he immediately committed further crimes. Batson was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment. Theft at Tawa Flat. John Mathieson, alias John M'tlarthy, who pleaded guilty on March 23 to breaking and entering and theft, of a rifle from n dwelling nt Tawa Flat in December. 1918, was the last to appear in the dock. The prisoner had nothing to say. His Honour remarked that in May, 1918, the prisoner was convicted of theft, and admitted to probation for a period of twelve months, and while on probation committed the offence for which he was then in the dock. That showed the amount of good probation had done him. Mathie’on was sentenced tq eighteen months’ imprisonment.