“A DANGEROUS MAN”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 663, 15 May 1929, Page 11

“A DANGEROUS MAN”

FOUR YEARS ‘‘HARD”

SENTENCE ON O’CONNOR

“\ have no hesitation in saying that where you are no child or woman is safe and no woman is secure from insult.” Thus Mr. Justice Herdman addressed Bertram Augustine O'Connor, 35, in sentencing him to four years’ haid labour for offences of indecency and use of abusive language. O’Connor was convicted of indecent assault on a child, the jury making a strong recommendation that he should be examined as to his mental condition, and also of indecent exposure and use of indecent language. On behalf of the prisoner Mr. Noble remarked that no doubt his Honour had considered the police report on the case. He expressed the hope that his Honour would take into consideration the recommendation that the prisoner should be medically examined. O’Connor had asserted that he had a piece of shrapnel in his head, which had the effect of turning his brain, causing him to commit these acts. ‘‘You have been medically examined by the police surgeon, and he reports that he found no evidence of insanity,” remarked his Honour, addressing the prisoner. “The conclusion I have come to is that you are a plausible and dangerous man. Constitutionally you are evilly disposed. I have examined your history carefully, and also a number of other cases in which you have been implicated, commencing in 1926, bearing in mind the fact you have been convicted of being a rogue and a vagabond. Time after time juries have acquitted you on similar charges, but my business is to judge you on the crimes of which you have been convicted. For indecent assault on a little girl you will be sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour; for behaving in an indecent manner before little girls, one year’s hard labour, to commence upon the expiration of the major sentence; on charges of misconducting yourself, and the use of obscene language, you will be sentenced to three months’ hard labour on each, the terms to run concurrently with the other sentences.”