LAW INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 76, 21 April 1843, Page 2

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

SUPREME COURT. APRIL SITTINGS. Wellington , Tuesday , April 18, (crown SIDE. —BEFORE CHIEF JUSTICE MARTIN.) 11l the absence of a regular reporter our readers must excuse our delay in furnishing our reports ; in the mean time we give the sentences passed upon the prisoners convicted at this sitting, who were brought up for judgment on Tuesday evening after the trial of Cook for murder. The first prisoner brought up was Edward Young, who having declined saying anything, the Chief Justice addressed him in nearly the following words : Edward Young —You have been indicted on a charge of having broken and entered the shop or warehouse of John Sutton, and having stolen certain bottles and other articles therein, and on that indictment you have been found guilty. This offence, of so serious a nature in itself, is in your case aggravated by the circumstances of your higher position in society, and your better education. On the other hand, I have taken into consideration your previous good life (the ground of the fovourable recommendation made to me fey the Jury) and the long time during which you have been already in custody: Nor in passing- upon you the..sentence which I am about to pronounce can I disregard the present condition of the prison in Which you will be confined. The sentence of the Court is that, you, Edward Young, be imprisoned in the gaol of Wellington for the term of six calendar months, and that you be kept to hard labor.

The prisoner Pilcher was then placed at the bar, and silence having been proclamed the Judge said Thomas Britannicus Pilcher You have been brought before this Court on an indictment charging you with having unlawfully and maliciously set fire to a house of William Lye, with intentto injure anddefraud the said William Lye: and you have been found guilty. The Jury, having regard to the distressed state of your family, have strongly recommended you to.the indulgent consideration of the,Court. By such a recommendation I feel myself so far bound,, that I always deeut.it.my duty to weigh with especial care the circumstances to which my attention is so dfawja, for the purpose Of satisfying myself whether that recommendation can be well and safely acted upon. The crime you, have committed is df a very henious nature —a crime involving not only the utter destruction of the property of one man, but almost of necessity putting in peril (in the present state of these settlements, often in extreme peril) the property and even the lives of-others. It is true that in your case there is no appearance of any deliberatd forethought and set purpose to do evil; but there is enough to shew much of that hasty and hot vindictiveness which it is one of .the main objects of the criminal law to check and subdue. Still lam justified by the evidence before the Court, in believing that with the evil impulse which urged you to this grevious crime were mingled some of those natural nnd irrepressible (though in your case misguided) feelings which will arise in the heart of every man when he is forced to look upon the misery of those who are near and dear to him. I feel myself also justified in hoping that those very influences which have led you to crime will hereafter restrain you;—that you will not be ungrateful to the law of your country which shows towards those who depend upon you a regard And considerateness which you have failed to show, and which, even whilst inflicting punishment upon you for your crime, seeks so to protect your neighbour as at the same time to spare and to show mercy upon you and yours. The sentence of the court is that, you, Thomas Britannicus Pilcher, be imprisoned in the gaol of Wellington for the term’ of six calendar months, and that you be kept to hard labor. The prisoners concerned in the burglary at Mr. Lyon's store were next placed at the bar. The Chief Justice in sentencing them said : Patrick Mullins, William Root, Joseph Root , and Denis Macarthy —You have been indicted for having burglariously broken and entered the dwelling-house of William Lyon, and having stolen certain goods therein, and you have been all found guilty. It has been sworn that the value of the property stolen amounted to 80/. I have carefully considered; the evidence- given upon your trial to see whether I could discover any circumstance which might extenuate your guilt. I. have found none. I see men, not driven to crime by the slow pressure of long endured poverty, nor stung to a deed of violence by sudden provocation ; men using health and energy for the purpose, not of honest labor, but of deliberate war against the peace of society, and seeking to convert the plunder of the orderly and well disposed part of the community into the food and fuel of their own licenciousness. In such a case the judge may not dare to stand between the evil doer and the righteous severity of the law. The • sentence of the Court is that, you, Patrick Mullins, William Root, Joseph. Root, and Denis Macarthy be transported beyond the. seas, to such place as his Excellency the officer administering the Government, with the advice of the Executive Council shall appoint, for the term of ten years. Charles Rowley, John Coglan, and Henry Rogers — For burglary in the house of John Lloyd, were transported for ten years. William Jackson —For burglary in the house %\ William Fillers, transportation for ten years. \ o • J