SUPREME COURT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 214, 8 March 1912, Page 6

SUPREME COURT

THIRD DAY'S SITTING.

PRISONERS SENTENCED.

The Supreme Court resumed its sittings at New Plymouth yesterday morning, Mr. Justice Sim presiding. Four prisoners came up for sentence. / The first to step into the dock was ] the young man W. J. 1 Ross, who had been found guilty on two indictmentstheft and unlawfully receiving. Asked if he had anything to say, the prisoner remained silent, and his solicitor (Mr. Wilson) told His Honor that he had been instructed by. Ross' parents to ask the court to deal with bis case as leniently as the circumstances permitted. I Counsel added that Ross was only a | young man, and that the evidence disclosed in the case warranted him in saying that accused was not quite responsible for his offence. According to Mr. Weston, Ross had been previously convicted ■of ■ theft on two occasions, and his record showed two other offences,, not on indictment, against him. i Without comment, His Honor imposed a sentence of six months' imprisonment I with hard labor, and at the «xpiratioi: of that term detention for reformative treatment for a period not exceeding five years. ; THEFT FROM THE PERSON. Speaking on. behalf of Wm. Ryan, the next prisoner awaiting sentence, who was found guilty of theft, Mr. C. H. Johnstone asked His Honor to bear lti mind the recommendation of the jury as to mercy, and also the fact that the prisoner's record showed liim to h&vs been guilty of no more serious previous offences than those connected with druiikenness. As a matter of fact, the present offence was due to a drunken debauch on Ryan's part while he was down from the back country. , Mr. Weston then handed s, record, which showed him to haVe'had' four previous convictions —not on indict- f ment—comprising drunkenness,, obscene language, assault on the police, and dis- , irderly conduct. His Honor seiitcnced. prisoner to six. months' imprisonment with hard labor, and to be j detained thereafter for reformative treatment for a pericfdHiwt)'.excelling [three years, ; 1 A MAORI SEOTEN&©. •' : j The case of the. ;Magri#j3 . (£ifjltY 6f theft) next engag.ei.the attention ol i:: His Honor. A plea fci «as : fttered by O Dea). 1 the ■'..allowed that the wholfe offence took plaoe 'l4wfeg a * e l..§fWfc • had' a. wife and-,#*? to' Wm'} had : [thej (i y r yeart been living 1 " tricfe,' 1 and lie1 tlidiigfr 'he certainly had a previous,. cm*-. • fiction ilMffli ip 1 fiact- •'*# be' taken into, 'iliuti foirj a refusal cay . ijart, the police -would !; ha,vf; -' y the charge of breaking and .entering, ■ .wibh.ithe result that the,^uMd.TOiil^ • llave been 'dealt: with simi#fUji}y ' 'magistrate. •* < '::' i yaMo I '■ This: report of tfc,ej firftw#-, sn^we^-tW,. l-' J prißoMe« had served-twp I at Auckland in 1904, whilfy in 1903, he had been convicted. on three ; - counts— "disorderly conduct, • a,nd resisting the police. J ! His Honor: Prisoner,: yoh are sen-] . tenced to six months' imprisonment with . liard labor. ; "" ~ , 1 His Honor. then, ordered, the. restituI tion to 'the ownfers"of r the''atolfen y ham ■ found in Te Kira's whare and,the cloth- ! : 'ing and other , foijnd. in; 'session .of Ross. : POINTED REMiitKS F£OM XJS® ;;/ r.: ' . r/lj '■ Vvri".*u • ,'! •'Edward Saunders, whom the jury.- : foiitid''Wilty : of attempbe'd.tUetttfropafftfee.; person, was next arraigned, :fpirJen£<pi<:e. ; 'His counsel (Mr. 'CDea) - retafirkfs<j,-.iW; follows on his behalf: fil ask jKWiH'Onqr, to .dear with accused aatleniently ;&s aibfo under the circumstantes.fr,•. ,|, I' HisPHonor:' Wilt 'is ;taiiow,nr f trie prisoner? . '• Mr. Weston: According'to th^: caJgHT dar' tliifc prisoner has • had' fftitly. IflJjgv, list of'previous i New Zealand. He ha® several convictions', against liim in .difffere)it. tb,e' ' world, in arid-, (Sou,t{i , .Africa. • '} I '-.!'.r-•-:l . Prisoner, suddenly interjecting.! Hpnor, I deny all these offence? Mtr.thq, orie in New Zealand. 1 'I 1 : His Honor: And what' \yas -tn^trj . offence, Mr. Weston? ' < i .'fiMjiir; . Mr, Weston: Theft from'the £ferso» ; .Wellington on April 27, '1903. ! ■ ■ -.i! His Honor (to '.Y'dir doatw--admit the Crown's record? Prisoner again replied in the negative. Mr. Weston: 0 The Crown is not in s position, to prsve the others. His Honor: Do the police know anything about him? Mr. Weston: No. , His Honor: Has he been in New Zealand since 1903? Mr. Weston replied that since then, according to the calendar, he had been eonvicted on three occasions in South Africa. Prisoner: I deny it, your Honor. ■ His Honor: You don't know anything .about him but what is here—the sentence is twelve months' imprisonment with hard labor. THE MISSING ACCUSED. At the suggestion of counsel for the Crown, the case of Rex v. C. 13. Lums- ' den, ju'n., charge of indecent assault, was again called, but the accused again failed ] to put in ail'appearance.