Supreme Court Sittings
LPSH united press association.] Wellington,' December 6. „ Ward, whom the jury foujid guilty of common assault on a youug girl, was brought up for sentence the morning. The probation officer in his report made no recommendation, though there was no suggestion that ' the prisoner had been previously con- \ victed. ■ Sir J. Preudergast said' he J considered the verdict of the jury unreasonable, for either the girl's story -was trtte or untrue. The twelve men
of course were entitled to their opinion but so was he (Prendergast) entitled to give expresaiou 'to .hie, which was that the verdict was ridiculous. He. felt that the punishment, he was about to mete out was inadequate, but the , verdict of the jury had prevented him irom treating .the .prisoner in the manner he ' richly deserved. In His Honor's opinion the girl had been thrown, and it was only by chance that she had not suffered the grossest indignities. She had given her evidence in a very straightforward and intelligent manner,' and there, was no - Teason to doubt her- testimony. Sir James spoke very strongly on the conduct of Ward, whom he sentenced to one calendar month's hard labour, expressing regret that he was powerless to deal with the case as he would wish. - "• '
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Bibliographic details
Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 73, 7 December 1889, Page 3
Word Count
212Supreme Court Sittings Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 73, 7 December 1889, Page 3
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