CRONIN ON TRIAL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 727, 30 December 1933, Page 5

CRONIN ON TRIAL

(Pyess Assn.-

ALLEGED HU SBANDLING BY POLICE IN HIS CELL CHAiRGE OF SEDITION

— By Telegraph— Copyrlght).

(Rec. Dec. 29) London, Dec. 28. Mr- McGiuckin, counsel for Mr. Cronin, at thq resumptiop of the trial declared that the prosecution had with sinister intenti'on omitted the charge against Cronin of being in possession of ammunition, and replaced it with a fantastic charge otf sedition, because those in charge of the investigation knew that Cronin's declaration that the ammunition was not there half an hour before the raid was true. The prosecution was venting its political sple.en on a gentleman whose honour was known. ■ iCounsel added that the allegation of memibership of an unlawful associatio,n failed because _ th'e uational guai'd was dissolved in Octofoer, while Young Ireland had not been banned until three day-s after the arrest, Cronin, in evidence, said he saw

no ammunition in his offices before the raid. He told Sergteant Hughes "I helieve you or your ag-ent placed it tihere," He added: "I protested against . a deteetive -exposing a revolver as though the gun also was going to be 'planked.' iWitness added that while in prison ihe governor and two or three military police came to his cell and said they had orders to collect his hlue shirt. He replied: "You must take it forcibly," whereupon the police after a struggle on the floor in which one knelt on his chest and another on his knees, toi'e off all his clothes including two shirts. WStness was severely bruised, necessitatiu|gj attention by a doctor. He hunger struck •for two days, but desisted when the charge was preferred. Cross-examined, Cronin denied that a letter declaring that the ban of the National Guard should not he a deterrent to their activities, was seditious, as the ban was unjustified. It was the duty of the people to resist and denounce tyranny whether it were committed by the Government or the in ob.