RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 131, 12 July 1876, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

MONDAY, JULY 10. (Before Major Turner, R.M., and Dr. Croft, J.P.) WILFUL DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. Patrick Conway was charged with having broken' two panes of glass in the Oeo Hotel, the property of George Beamish. The damage done was admitted by the prisoner, but he pleaded great provocation in extenuation. He stated that be and others were at the public house, when a row arose, and a scuffle took place between him and the landlord, during which he was ejected. He was then sot on by a number there, and Mr Beamish came out with a revolver to him, so in self-defence he took up stones and hence the damage. _ ; As there was another charge against the defendant, judgment was deferred till it had been heard. ALLEGED THREATENING TO STAR. The defendant was then charged with having threatened, on the night of Wednesday, sth Jtdy, to stab one Tc Kabuite with a sheath knife. Te Kahuite, a native residing at Oeo, said that on Wednesday evening, the sth instant, about 10 o’clock, he saw prisoner throw a stone through the window of Mr Beamish’s public house at Oeo, after which he ran towards the stockyard. Nuku aind witness ran after and came up with him. Prisoner had a knife in his hand, and was going to stah witness with it, hut Whilst attempting to do so, he (prisoner) fell down. The knife produced (a dangerous looking sheath knife) was the one lie had in his hand. After prisoner slipped Nukn got’ on the top of, and arrested him, tying his hands and feet with straps. After this Mr Beamish took up flic knife, which had fallen out of the prisoner’s hand on to the ground. That.was all the witness know about, the matter. In reply to the Bench, witness said that Nuku called upon him lo conic and assist in arresting prisoner. The 1 alter made a rush at witness to, stab him with the knife, on the latter coming up to him. In reply to prisoner, witness said .that only himself,. Sir Beamish, and Nuku were present. . ■Nuku,’ a native constable, stationed at Oeo, deposed that on the evening of the sth instant, he saw the prisoner throw a stone at Mr Beamish’s window, in the lower part of the house, and subsequently at one of the upper windows, breaking both windows. Mr Aikman, addressing witness, said, “ Nukn, you are a policeman,

ran after him.” Witness did so, and called on Heke to'help liitn. The witness then gave similar evidence to that of the previous witness, relative to the attempt on prisoner’s part, to stab the latter, and identified the knife produced as the same prisoner had in his hand. He also proved the arrest of prisoner, as described by the last witness, and said that he put him for safety into Beamish’s stable, and stopped with him till 3 o’clock in the morning. Witness then Went. away to fetch another constable named Napoleon, as he felt sleepy. Napoleon Would not get up to relieve witness, and he therefore got under the oat store to have a'sleep. He lay there a short time, and'on looking into the stable he found that the prisoner was gone. He Searched for, but could not find him till twelve o’clock that day, when, in company with another constable, he re-arrested and brought him down. In reply to prisoner, witness said the latter was not at the public house the day he was arrested the second time. He did not arrest, him in the wharo of Aikman. At the time the alleged attempt to stab was made, prisoner was sober, and the reason of his falling was" that his foot slipped. Mr Beamish said that prisoner had been throwing stones at his house, and knowing him to be a treacherous man, took his revolver and helped to arrest prisoner. He distinctly saw him attempt to stab the policeman, and he (witness) wrenched the knife from prisoner’s, hand. In reply to the Bench witness said that prisoner was not drunk at the time, but was in an outrageous state. He had frequently seen him so, from bad temper, witness supposed. Prisoner when sober frequently used very threatening language. _ To the prisoner— l never Saw you or knew yon to have been brought before rt magistrate before. In defence prisoner utterly denied in the most emphatic manner ever having used the knife, or oven having taken it from the sheath, where he, like all other hnslnnen, wore it. He protested that in the scnllle described by the Mauris in their arresting him it fell out, and he pointed out that the Maoris had admitted Mr Beamish picked it up from the ground. He had been beaten and, abused on the occasion, and all he did was to take up stones to protect himself with, after he had been chased along the road for a long way by a lot of Maoris, who followed him like greyhounds.' He complained of the manner in winch the Maoris had treated him, saying that his body and_ limbs were black and blue from their violence. The Bench said that the case was a trifling one, and the whole matter might have been disposed of by Mr Beamish summoning the defendant for breaking the glass. The native policehad no right to handcuff without bringing prisoner before a magistrate. Mr Wilson would have heard the case, and the idea of of keeping the prisoner with handcuffs and leg irons on was absurd. The case would be dismissed. In the former case defendant was ordered to pay 3s damage done, and £4 16s Gd costs within a week, or in default one month’s imprisonment. The Court then adjourned.