Police Court.

Manawatu Herald, 6 February 1894, Page 2

Police Court.

(8.-fore K. S. Thynne and V. ■ llobinson, Esqrs., J's.P.) Saturday, Hiw February. criminal. —/John- Steer-was charged by ~Gon--stable Gillespie that on the 28th of January near Wirilrino he did wilfully and feloniously kill one sheep of '"the rvalue of ten shillings the property of John Davies. Constable Gillespio prosecuted and the prisoner was undefended. John Taylor deposed — On Sunday 28fch January I was on Davies' run with Arthur Huff; we found a sheep's head and paunch in a clump of manuka ; (the witness described the ear-mark which coincided with Davies' registered brand) ; we came to the conclusion that sheep had been recently „ killed as the paunch was warm ; there was blood on the grass which we traced' for about 200 yards straight towards *"" ■ house; the 1-" ■ ' ■■■\,-? u *fl v<v> - - use WGUIU be 400 „, w tvs distant ; no Other person lives ueai l > the natives live three miles' away; We left the paunch where it Was and hid the head \ told (kdrge. Haft', in charge df the sheep, about it ; showed Davies and the constable the head on Tuesday. In answer to the accused the witness stated that where the sheep was found was Kereopa's laud ; did not see anyone killing the sheep. Arthur Huff deposed— l live with my father at Mr Davies' ; my father is "a shepherd ; he then corroborated the evidence of John Taylor. John Davies deposed — I have known accused for 10 or 12 years, he resides in a house on lhakara's land ; the natives removed all their sheep from the land nearly two years ago ; I went to the residence of the accused with the constable oh Tuesday and was shown the head and pailnch of a sheep (a ewe hogget) earmarked with my registered earmark; from appearances I judged that the sheep had been killed there, that the head had been completely severed from the body, cut off with a knife, evidently quite recently, within a day or two],,|t was still quite fresh ; no trace of ra'e skin could be found or of the carcase although we made s&arch ; am ill portions of wool were found about the place ; these pieces of wool were found in a direction going towards accused's residence on a small track that is there ; we went to accused's house find saw him 1 there ; I heard Constable Gillespie say "Do yon recognise me ?" after a short time accused replied " Yes, you aro Mr Gillespie" ; Constable then told him that a sheep had been killed belonging to Mr Davies, close to accused's residence and that he was suspected of the crime, and must consider himself arrested ; accused said that he never ate mutton, that ho did'nt care for mutton ; before that he said to Gillespie " Did anyone see me kill the sheep ?" Gillespie told him that he was going to search his premises and demanded the key which he gave him ; some boards outside the house were splashed wit,h fresh blood ; the accused said it was the blood of some rabbits which he had been killing ; before going to the house accused was asked if he had any inuttog in it, and whether he had any wool or skins in the house, it was then that the accused said that he did not care for mutton, that he lived on fish ; he said that there was a little wool in the house ; the house consisted of two rooms in a very delapidated condition ; in the first room was a stretcher and the remnants of an old blanket and some bags, and the accumulation of filth of years ; We found a camp-oven half full of recently rendered mutton fat, in a cupboard a lot more mutton fat or tallow, some 10 or 12 pounds altogether ; the accused said that he had had that fat foi years, that it was from sheep that had been left with him by people driving sheep down the coast some years ago ; the constable tried the handle of the inner room and finding it locked asked for the key ; accused said that ■he did not know where it was; on the constable saying" I will have to burst the door open " the accused said " look behind the door, see if it is hanging up there "; the key was there and the constable handed out a portion of a shoulder of mutton and a portion of another shoulder of mutton ; he handed out a sheepskin, (the one produced) ; I cannot swear that is one of mine* there is no visible brand upon it ; a portion of - the ; y skin .has been cut where $he brand' might have been ; I found ;the flboir of the room covered with wool, about two or three bags full, some of it dead wool a"rid some taken off $heer> thafchad been Jiled-; cwodons«3^ed ine^toUttotK- had-been killed and properly bled; accused said he got the mutton from a dead sheep on the run ; he said the rest was in his eel basket and he had flung the skin into the river ; there was, nqthipg. in the ee l basket ; the accused" said he couldn't show where he found the dead sheep: we found in the. house a chopping block, a tomahawk, and some butcher's knives ; there was fresh blood on the knives, and is still there only dryer ; on the : hjopk we- found ft few. BUiall fibres of wool; o v «v the boards spofan of as bdiog splaihtd with

blood was hanging a block with rope attached, and a piece or rope lying alongside on the ver.indah, and on the rope small indications of blood. The accused said that was his sigu ; had never given accused or other persons leave to kill any of my sheep in that way ; directly underneath the block we found indications of wool> -some quite fresh aud others old ; I picked \\p one portion on which there were slight stains of blood quite fresh ; there were two dogs in the house and two outside; one of the three outside was a bitch with pups, I don't know how nutty ; they all bore evidence of being well fed. John Gillespie deposed — I went to the house of the accused in company with Mr Davies and the witnesses Taylor and Huff; 1 saw accused there and told him that a sheep had been found close by his place slaughtered, and that he was aus* pected of having killed it and stolen the carcase ; he said,. " did anyone see me- kill the sliop^ " T .. , that I— r *"»Pjea ,v.u*u nob say whether he had been seen killing the sheep or not ; I told him 'to consider- himself in-rested ori the dhai'ge and that I \vds going to Seanill his hoiiseY (The. Witness corroborated Mr Davies' eVicloritfe as" td the conversation.) The accused produced the key of the wharc and f entered and found two wild dogs there about 10 or 11 months old ; on the floor of the house, in the corner?, was about a a foot depth of dogs filth ; the room had Ihe appearance ot having been a dog's kennel for years past ; I tried" to hunt the two dogs out but they would, not leave the place,, and the accused remarked that they had never h2on. outside. (Witness gave similar evidence as to finding tallow, wool, &c, as Mr Davies.)" Speaking about the blood on the ground and the ropes on the block, accused remarked that possibly the blood might have come from some eels he had been killing, and as to the blood on the rope, that rope was his cow rope, and the blood might have come from the cow ; the accused was in a very filthy state ; I had to get him washed and supply him with other clothes, those he had being rotten ; Tasked him how he lived there, and he said he liv^d by catching rabbits, but I nolicid : no indications of rabbits or rabbits hair there except one torn rabbit skin at the door. This closed the case for the prosecution. The accused having been duly cautioned was asked if he desired to give evidence upon oath, declared he did. John Steer., deposed —l live at Ihakara's fariii near Foxtou ; all that wool they found in my house I had either gathered from the run or ■ h.-id taken it Uvm my . own sheep, .that I had owned years before; tho.-e skins in the housa had all bivn paten up by rats; they came oft' Ihakara's run ; I had others giv.-n me by the Maori owners of the run, ana the wool, some of it I used to gather on the run when I was out rabbiting and I used to be allowed to t.iko the s!cin3 from the di?:. % d shtvp I used to find on the run if the skins were good ; that run balongs to Ihnkara's daughter and not to Mr Davies ; the owners of the run have given me permission to make use of anything I found lying on the ground ; as to the fat it was given to me by Apita* 1 am a sort of step-father of hers ; I can get plenty of meat when I want it though I don't care much about mutton because I can get plenty of eels at this season of the year ; as to the wool there is lots of it lying about in the furze ; I could easily get half a bale at any time. Cross-examined by the Constable —The fat I got from Apita, she brought me mutton about two weeks ago; she ; brought a forequarter of mutton ; I ate portions at a time as I wanted it ; she brought me nothing else ; I did not eat the fat, I rendered it down and saved it ; I had other fat saved from previous occassions when I had fat mutton ; the mutton you found in the house was a portion of a dead sheep I found on the run ; I told you that I bad put a portion of it into the eel basket, you looked at the basket but there was nothing in it, of course you cannot leave anything in it in the daytime, the rats would tare the basket to pieces if you did so ; I could not show you where the carcase had been lying because I had thrown it ail into the river ; I only threw about a quarter of a sheep into the river, pigs had eaten the rest ; I could not show you the place because it was on the edge of the bank and it gave way and fell into the river ; I fell with the bank ; this was at a place about half a mile from the whare, up the river; I took" part of the" shoulder into the house ;'T took two pieces, one part was only a bone I think ; it was on Friday when I found it, ifc was quite fresh then, had evidently not been long dead ; I skinned the portion I took, I wanted it for the eel basket, it did not stink enough so I put it into my room until it should be sufficiently rotten ; I know Watone ; I have never given him any skins to sell ; I have never given or sold mutton to anyone; the skin produced in Court I found up the river on a dead sheep ; I took the skin off the sheep about a fortnight ago ; it had been dead about a week, this was on Kereopa'a run ; Bam told me that Keraopa owned ihetp; Aplta

and the owners of the run- sold me that I could have any dead wool on the run ; about two years ago J,bat was; since then no one has given v me any authority to do so ; I did not / x see the spot where, the sheep was <-r* killed but from the evidence It Hilts* have been oil Kei'eOp"a's land; L didn't cut the piece out of the skin *> produced, I intended to cut a piece off it to put on my eel basket but I did'nt do so ; the pigfs . had been eating this sheep top* The bench aoiftmUfced the accused to take his trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court at Wellington, Monday, stti February. John Steer was charged by Cott* j stable Gillespie that on or ftbmtt MM 25th of November neat Wirikilid at did wilfully and feloniously MlL.ttHB .-A) sheep, of the Value bf Wi SlillUfl£s the property 01 John Dories and dv) feloniously steal away the CSU'Cflse and tIVJi tne said sheep so killed. The Constable prosecuted and tho accused was undefended. This charge was heard and dismissed, the evidence relied upon, two native boys, being of a startling opposite tiatM'e to that given by thertl t6 the constable. The manner of oivtns? their evidence made it evident 'that their testimony had been carefully thought out.