Another Judicial Scandal.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 153, 30 December 1895, Page 3

Another Judicial Scandal.

(Per Press Association.) Sydney, December 28. With the departure of the AttorneyGeneral tot Japan, Mr Crick has turned his attention to the Rofe case, in which it will be remembered that Rofe, a solicitor, wis convicted of conspiracy in the Butler divorce suit and released under the l&rst Offender Act. In a letter to th»-press, jj r Crick demanded to know vM rirhfethet it was true that Mr Heydon, who acted for the Crown in the Dean cas£ and*defended Rofe, had an interview with Judge Backhouse before seu- . • tence was passed. In the Dean case Judge Windeyer, when assailed, maintained a disciefet silence, but his brother judge bad apparently allowed his letters to the Minister of Justice to be handed tothepres3. The Judge denies point blank that Mr Heydon attempted to inflaence his decision, while Mr Hejdon , describes Crick's story as " a fairy tale." Crick reiterated that Mr Hoydon ad- ■ mitted having been to seethe Judge and succeeded in getting him to take a dif- ' ferentView of the case, but Mr Barton write* Qenying having beard Mr Heydon say so. The Daily Telegraph takes up the tale and says if the Judge thinks it necessary to come out into public print to justify bis reprieve of Rofe after sentence, the thing for him to explain is not the nature of the offence but the special claim of the offender to receive invidiously light treatment. Whatever the offence, why was Rofe not called upon to expiate, like, for instance, the brother of Mrs Bnller, who committed the first crime in trying to shield his sister's reputation from the conspiracy slanders, and who is now in prison.