SUPREME COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4206, 31 August 1892, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

Wellington Criminal Sessions, A HEAI/Y~SENTENCE, BAPE, A one-armed man named Charles 4. Watsob, about 45 years of age, eras charged with having committed rape upon a little girl named Evelyn Wiggins, 8 years of age, at Palmer'ston North, on the 11th Juno, The acousad, who was not represented by counsel, pleaded not guilty. He asked if two important witnesses ivhom he had subpoenaed, were present,

The Crown Prosecutor stated that a telegram had been received from one of tbe persona mentioned, a resident of Falmerston North, stating that was unable to be present through illness, and ths other witness, a lad, was now in the Burnham Industrial School, He understood that the.evilence these witnesses could give was pte irrelevant, His Honor did not see any reason tor adjourning tho case unless the icoused could show that the witnesses would give material evidenco. Tbe prisoner stated that the boy could give evidenco as to the character and habits of the girl. His Honour said if it w&s sought to prove thai the child was an abandoned child, that would be no defence, The acoused asked that he might be medically examined before the case began,

His Honor acceded to the request, and the Court adjourned for a quar - ter of an hour, in order that the examination might be made, On resuming, Mr A, Gray appeared to prosecute on behalf of the Crown, Mr P. Laurensen was foreman of the jury. .

rJChe evidence for the Crown was to the effect that on the 14th June, Uo little girls, Belinda and Evelyn Wiggins, aged respectively 12 years and 8 years, who were playing truant from school; met the prisoner, whom they had not seen before, and the younger one aßked him for a match, as she wanted to smoke a cigarette. He gave her the match, and then induced th« girls to accompany him to a paddock a little out of the town, where he committed an offence on tha eldest girl, They then went into a Chinaman's shop in the town, and the prisoner purchased some fruit for them. He afterwards asked them to go down to the riyer, some distance from the town. They assented, and on reacbiup the river the accused committed an offence on the younger girl. The examination of the witnesses was not concluded until nearly 10 p.m. The prisoner addressed tho jury for nearly two hours, asserting his ißrocence and declaring that the children had spoken falsely, His Honour briefly summed up and the Jury retired at midnight, They returned at 12.18 a.m. with a verdict of guilty. The prisoner asked His Honour to defer sentence until this morning. His Honor agreed to this. The prisoner, he said, had been convicted in 18P8 of a similar offence at Wei}ingtpij, and yentonccd to four years' pal servitude, and there tvere Wo conviptionß against him for indecent exposure, He mentioned these things in the presence of the jury so that they might see what sort of a man the prisoner was,

His Honor this morning sentenced the accused to ten years' penal scrvi» tudo, remarking thai it was evident that the previous convictions had had no effeot upon him, It wasnecessary to make an example,