PUNISHMENT FOR ASSAULT.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 May 1920, Page 5

PUNISHMENT FOR ASSAULT.

MR. JUSTICE CHAPMAN'S VIEWS. SENTENCES TOO LIGHT. By Talejraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. At the Supreme Court, two Maoris, Paul Tene and Hori Pen-itoto, for assault on a European at Tetiko, were sentenced, Tene to twelve months' reformative treatment, and Penito was fined £ls and costs, and ordered to pay £lO towards the costj-of the prosecution. In reply to counsel for Tene, Mr. Justico vnapman said: "I have never seen my way to overlook brutal assault in which a man has been injured. I always give imprisonment in such cases. This is not an arbitrary rule, and the necessity for it has been proved over and ovtr again. I do not wish to interfere with others who administer justice, but I sometimes think that some Magistrates are too lenient in dealing with drunken assaults. I do not mention any names; indeed, I could not recall them if I tried, but, as I say, I feel that such cases are often too leniently dealt with."

Thomas Percival McQuillan, for theft in the Rotorua district, was sentenced to three years' hard labor, and was declared an hwbitual criminal. He had a long list of previous offences. Wiremu Rana, also with a bad record, who is already serving several years' hard labor and not more than four years' reformative treatment, was sentenced to a similar period for theft of horses from a relative, thus adding a few months to his term of incarceration.