SUPREME COURT.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2774, 8 January 1872, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSIONS. This Day. (Before Mr Justice Chapman.) The sittings of the Court were resumed at 10 o’clock this morning. SENTENCES. Edward Clark (33), who pleaded guilty to a charge of forgery at Palmerston, oh being placed in the dock, expressed his sorrow for what he had done, and hoped the Court would be lenient with him, as he had been in gaol three months awaiting trial His Honor : I find this is. not the first time you have been before a court of justice. You have been convicted in 1869 of stealing bricks; and from the long time that hag elapsed between the two offences* coupled with your plea of guilty, I am led to hope that you repent Of the course of life you have pursuetl. The crime of forgery is becoming more frequent of lato, and 1 cannot well pass your offence over. The sentence is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for 18 months. This was a very clumsy forgery ; and you must have known that within a few hours detection was absolutely certain. If you qomo before the. Court again you will be put on the roads for aconsiderable number of years. Arthur Dominick (21), who pleaded guilty - to ‘ a charge of forgery at Dunedin, was brought up for sentence. The prisoner, who appears to have received a very good education, related a number of circumstances in the hope that the Court would deal leniently with him. He said that he had suffered from a lengthened illness, and that on getting well and receiving letters : of recommendation from England, he called upon a merchant in the City, who had promised bin? employment, -to rppnnd him of that promise. He then learned that some.person had told that gentleman qf big previous imprisonment ; and all hope of employment was gone. It was then, being without friends and without employment, that he committed the crime. His Honor : If this had been the first offence you had committed, that . excuse would have had more weight. But this is not your first offence; you were convicted her/ iii 1§69, I think, for obtaining the small sum pf §s under false pretences. In this case, as in the last, the whole thing was very clumsily managed ; _ and a grain of common sense must have informed you that detection was certain within 24 hours. It seems under such circumstances that you almost wanted to get into gaol. Now I must give you warning if you come here again upon a third offenice, I shall certainly give you a more rigorous . punishment—if For forgery, yery considerable period of penal servitude on the' roads. In the present instance, the genfeppe' j§ you be kept at hard labor for two years,On John Grey (27) convicted of arson at Blueskin, being brought up for sentence,:. His Honor said: The jury have given you the benefit of the doubt in one part of the case ; they were evidently not satisfied with the evidence, as to the building having actually caught fire ; and found you guilty of the attempt. You will have the benefit of that doubt. That there was not a fire was owing to the energetic conduct of two men—carriers —who happened by the merest ‘ihahee to make preparations, for starting on tjieir journey "early in the morning; they saw the sre ? rushed to it, aroused the persons slumbering in fh e bquse, and stamped out the fire. The evidence ’ shows that' tip fire could not have been accidental j it shows that no person bub yourself could have done it, you being the only person about the premises at the time. Now, the Legislature has made an important distinction between attempts to set fire to buildings and other offences. Generally speaking an attempt is only a misdemeanour ; in this page it is made a substantive penalty. In these cases tjyi object of the Legislature is to deter and prevent crimp a,s far as possible, and the reason why the larger pupighmept has been substituted in cases of attempts at arson is owing to the danger to human life which exists. Fortunately, in this case, it is not laid that there were any persons iri the building at the time ; and you. have the benefit of that doubt in the punishment that will be inflicted on you. The sentence is that you suffer penal servitude for three y,eai'». Joseph Cojnpir /}s), who was found guilty of robbery from the pefsop at Dpnediu was sentenced for four years penal servitude, his Honor remarking that the prisoner had been couvictod five times previously, and appeared to be incorrigible. Mary Maria Hogan Webb (28), who pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy at the Garrick Range, on being challenged in the ijsuai way, said her second marriage took place with 'the full copsepf qf her husband. His Honor ; That consent only shows you helped to impose on Thomas Leslie, You heard your husband, before you were married, say that he was your brother j and you did not contradict him. I do not see how that mitigates your offence. However, you have pleaded guilty, and that shows you may have been under some delusion as to that consent; I shall therefore pass a lenient sentence bn you. TJi.e sentence is, that you be in?prj.soned for six months, flfg .§T. £ATI/tAN’{j CAgE. John Ewing, was indie ted for having at St Bathan’s on Nov, 20, shot one Ah Chow, with intent to kill him. Further counts charged the prisoner with shooting with intent to maim, to disfigure, and to do grievous bodily harm. Mr John Alloo interpreted. Mr Macassey, with whom was Mr Stout, defended. ‘ The fact* of the case are so fresh in the memory of our readers tf,at :£ only necessary to recount them vefyTbriefly:—On the morp- , ing of Sunday, November* 26, a tnah‘ named i Janies Lemmrd, who Was in Ewing’s’employ, \ saw a Clpifamap haying g fin dish' in his hand go to a tub poptaiping s/onie' fajlipgs belonging to Ewipg, and jbake sopm pf its contents, which & put into jiis disb. Leonard pursued the ChiuamaP; »»d qaipe

up to him at a distance of forty yan}st-|r6ib the race, seized and secured Him by Sapping one of his arms and one of jIU tegs together with a belt. Leaving him .secured in that manner, Leonard Went to Ewing|> hut and roused him, telling him that he had caught a Chinaman stealing gold. Prisoner took his gun, and rushed down to the place where the Chinaman lay. When he came up to the place, Leonard was dragging the Chinaman up a hill, and while he was doing so the Chinaman managed to free himself from his fastenings. Ewing, seeing this, fired at him, wounding him in the armpits. The Chinaman, whose name is Ah Chow, was conveyed to the lock-up at Naseby, where his wounds, which were serious, were attended to by Dr M. Cambridge. He still suffers severely from the effect of them, several shots being unexfcracted; and to-day he made his, appearance in Court with his right arm in a sling. The Crown Prosecutor, after opening his case, said he anticipated the defence set up would be that the shot was fired in defence of his servant Leonard. He admitted that if the shot was necessarily fired for Leonard’s defence, it would legally amount to justification ; but, in order to amount to that it would have to be shown that it was fired to save Leonard’s life, or to save him from some material injury. If the Chinaman had been beating Leonard with a heavy stick—which he was. not, as the evidence showed—or weapon that was likely to have done Leonard serious injury, the prisoner would have been justified in using his gnn pbutasthe Chinaman was only attacking Leonard with his hands, he was not justified. Such means were only in the case of extreme necessity—when life or limb was in danger. Mr Macassey, in addressing, the . jurjV urged that; if the prisoner had a reasonably belief that his, servant was in actual danger, he was justified in doing what he did,. • The jury retired at 4 o’clock, and at 440 had not agreed. ; , i . IN BANKRUPTCY. George M. Aldrich, H. T. Green, and A. D. Campbell, were ml judged bankrupts k first meetings of creditors to take placfiLori the 15th inst., in Campbell’s case at Camara. In the matter of John Patterson, the appointment of Mr Leary as trustee, and in thatiof Henry France that of Mr James Bee, were confirmed ; and the final examination of the bankrupts fixed for the 22ud-inst., ~