FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15th, 1867.

Southland Times, Issue 751, 18 November 1867, Page 2

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15th, 1867.

The Criminal Sittings of the Supreme Court commenced on last Friday, in the Provincial Hall. His Honor Justice Chapman was the presiding Judge. The Grand Jury consisted of the following gentlemen : —Messrs Calder (foreman). Menzies, M'Pherson, Moore, Adamson, Baker, Dalgleish, Macdonald, M'Arthur, M'Clure, Vivian, Perry, Koss, Clerke, Morton and Armstrong. His Honor the Judge, in addressing the Grand Jury, said —-Mr Foreman and Gentlemen, — The calendar on the present occasion includes only three cases, but these are all of a serious nature. Two of them are from Stewart's Island —the one being a rape, the other an attempt to commit that offence. There is, then, a charge of shooting with intent to commit murder —there will be probably other counts to the indictment for your consideration. In this case the act appears to have been scarcely that of a man in his senses ; the offence was committed Avithout apparent provocation, and without warning being given. No human eye having seen the shot fired, you will have to infer from circumstances whether there are sufficient grounds for placing the accused on his trial. Evidence will be produced to prove the purchase by him of a gun, afterwards seen in his possession, and subsequently picked up near where the offence was committed. It will of course be for the petty jury to consider any circumstauce the prisoner may urge in his defence. In the first case that occurred at Stewart's Island, sufficient proof will, I think, appear to enable you to find a true bill. The victim is a girl" of 13 years of age, and —although not so stated on the* depositions—l Delieve of the native race. It is in every way proper to state this, in order to impress the necessity ol additional care, to show that the natives are equally with ourselves under the protection of the laws. In the next case, the assault of the prisoner was defeated by the presence of mind and sagacity of the woman, °who, when at the mercy of her assailant, said, not " 1 see so and so," but called out to an imaginary person " come and help me," which had the effect of frightening the prisoner, who then left her. The whole of her evidence

indicates the possession of much good ] sense, and I think you will find a pro- 1 bable case against the prisoner. So far as this Province is concerned, I Have to 1 congratulate you on the comparative 1 immunity from crime ; only one serious 1 offence having occurred during the four 1 months which have elapsed since the last 1 session of this court ; the other two hay- j ing been committed at Stewart's Island, '. where, as you are aware, the dominion of '. law and order is not yet well established. The Grand Jury then retired, and after a lengthened absence returned into court, finding true bills against all'the prisoners. The Petty Jury was there empanneled. Two jurors were objected to by the prisoner.. The following are. the names of those sworn : — Messrs A. Cameron (foreman), Gray, Meldrum, Cassels, Connor, M'Leod, Marshall, G-albraith, Sloan, Wallis, Spence and Brown. The first case called was — THE QUEEN V. ATKINSON. The prisoner was charged with having at Stewart's Island, on the first day of August last, committed a criminal assault upon the person of Sarah Owens, a half-caste girl of only 13 years of age. Mr Macdonald conducted the prosecution on behalf of the Crown. The prisoner undertook his own defence. The prosecutrix, to whom the usual form of oath was administered by J. A. Watt, Esq., gave her evidence in the native language, Mr Gr. Howell acting as interpreter. The girl's behaviour in the box was such as to produce a strong impression in her favor, her evidence being given with much correctness and simplicity, and in no wise affected by a very severe cross questioning. In his defence, Atkinson totally and persistently asserted his innocence of the crime brought against him, alleging that the case had been concocted by a number of persons who where animated by strong feelings of malice against himself, and Avho were interested in his removal from their locality. He also drew the attention of the Court to the fact that the girl's statement was not supported or confirmed by the medical evidence which is usually considered indispensable in such cases, and which might easily have been obtained in this. In charging the jury, His Honor reviewed the evidence adduced with great care aucl perspicuity, laying considerable emphasis on those portions which bore most clearly against the accused, whose cross-examination, he remarked, had elicited statements calculated to damage his own cause. The jury returned, after a short absence, with a verdict of G-uilty. His Honor reserved judgment until the following day, at 10 o'clock. The next case was — THE QUEEN V. PBICE. The charge against the accused in this case was of the same nature as the previous one, his indictment being that he did, at Stewart's Island, on a certain day, assault, with criminal intent, one Ann Atkinson, to her severe hurt and injury, &c. It is rather remarkable that the prosecutrix in this case is the wife of the prisoner in the former one. Mr Macdonald acted in this case also as crown prosecutor. Prisoner defended himself very ably. The evidence was of a rather conflicting character, but on the whole rather went to show the female to have been the assailant than that the prisoner had attempted any indecent violence, she having, without any apparent provocation, perpetrated the first aggression by pulling his whiskers and using other violence, while he onlyused such force as was necessary for selfdefence. It was also shown that a strong personal enmity existed in the mind of the prosecutrix against the prisoner. The jury, taking this view of the case, returned a verdict of " not guilty," on which the accused was discharged.