SUPREME COURT.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 517, 13 September 1902, Page 1

SUPREME COURT.

(Before His Honor Hr Justice Conolly.)

INDECENT ASSAULT,

A native named Marutu Tcohaorc, who pleaded guilty the previous day to a charge of indecent assault, was brought up for sentence. Mr L. Bees, who appeared for the defen. dant, asked His Honor to recognise the fact that native women obtained a marriageable age much earlier than .Europeans, and even on the depositions there was no evidence of age. His Honor pointed out that the depositions clearly showed that the girl had just turned twelve.

Mr Rees said there was nothing to show the girl’s ago beyond the statement of a man’s memory as to when a child was christened. His Honor said ho should have held that there was clear evidence that the girl was under sixteen if the same evidence was given before him as in the Court below. Mr Rees said that marriages were consummated at the present time between Natives even at the age of 14. His Honor : Yes, so it may be with Europeans. Some Europeans are married in this country even younger than that. Mr Kees said he could call Constable Gerrard as to the character ot the prisoner.

His Honor said he look the evidence on the depositions as true, and it was shown that there was coercion in connection with the offence. Mr Rees stated that on several occasions when the offence was committed the girl had not made complaints. His Honor : Because lie threatened what he would do to her. If you intend to test the truth of this statement you should have pleaded not guilty, but don’t ask me to disbelieve any part of the depositions.

Mr Rees wished merely to point out that the same statoment as to the threat that prisoner would stab the girl was made all through. His Honor : Supposing that she fully consented every time, that would be no ground of mitigation. Mr Rees : H do not say so, except that the prisoner might have had reason to think she was older, because I say that Natives reach the marriageable age before Europeans. His Honor : I cannot seo that a child of 12 would bo mistaken for 16. I don’t think character has anything to do with this case. Character is of importance where facts are concerned, but where facts are admitted it is of no use. Character is nothing in this matter. Mr Rees : What I wish accentuated is this : That Natives living as they do, although they are amenable to tho laws of the country, still they have some customs of theirs which will take perhaps centuries to rid them of. The prisoner was in a position to find sureties if tho provisions of the Probation Act wero extended to him.

In delivering sentence Ilis Honor said : This is certainly not a case in which I could grant probation. If tho case tried before me at a former sitting was as gross as this, and I admitted tho man to probation I must have made a mistake. We are all liable to mistakes, and I won’t do it again. If I admitted prisoner to probation it could be said that a man could commit the crime with perfect impunity, because ho was a Maori. Tho child was only twelve years old, and ho threatened her if she did not comply with his wishes and made any complaints. It was the offence of incest, his own sister’s child, besides the indecent assault, a most shocking case, I am asked to take into consideration the habits and customs of Maoris. If it is tho habit and custom of Maoris to commit incest then the sooner it is put down the better. I think this is a very aggravated case indeed. In passing sentence His Honor dwelt on the enormity of the crimo committed, and stated that if prisoner had not pleaded guilty he would have sentenced him to flogging in addition to imprisonment. Tho sentonco of the Court is that accused be imprisoned in Auckland prison and kept to hard labor for two years. This concluded the criminal sitting of tho Court.