SUPREME COURT SITTINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3188, 29 November 1892, Page 2

SUPREME COURT SITTINGS.

(BY TBLKORAPII.—OWV COKHKSI'OSPKSr). Auckland, La«t Night. THB Supreme Court criminal sitting opened to-day, before Mr Justice Connolly. Mr Tole assumed tins dutii-s of Crown prosecutor. In charging the crr;trrl jury His Honor remarked that the number of , the indictments to he presented was rather j above the averige. Ho it's • regretted to ! have to state that a considerable number of \ them were rather serious rases but .it the same time ho did not think tint with one , or two exceptions they wcro cases that would require a great amount of consideri- | tion at the hands of the grand juryman in , mo-t instmces the evidence was sufficient t to warrant them bringing in a '''"0 bill. John Rowe was indicted for feloniously breaking and entering the shop of James Randall, at Raglan, on 27th September. Prisoner, who pleaded guilty, was undefended. His Honor addressing the prisoner said he had served twelve months' imprisonment for a similar offence and sentence him to a similar term of imprisonment with hard labour. Henry Tollas Earay, pleaded guilty to stealing £24, from the Rob Roy Hotel, in Freeman's Bay, and was sentenced to be imprisoned for six , calendar months with bard labour. Richard John Pearce was indicted to unlawfully 1 and indecently assaultinga little girl named ' Amy Amelia Speer-s and also on a second f charge torunlawfullyawlindecently assault- , ing a girl, Mary Lillian Edwards. Accused ' pleaded guilty. His Honor, in addressing the prisoner said the charges against him | were two disgusting ones. It was monstrous that a child eleven years of age and i another eight years old should have such filthy acts perpetrato:l upon them. He sentenced prisoner to four years' penal ! servitude,with bard Übour for each offence, 1 the sentences to run concurrently, Charles \ Tuck was indicted that while clerk and , treasurer if the Piako County Council he ' fraudulently and feloniously embrzzled certain sums of money, the funds of the Comity Council. There were two indictments against accused, who pleaded guilty. ' Mr Button appeared nn behalf of the ! County Council. Mr Hesketh, who ap- ' peared for the accused, ad Iresssd His Honor at length in mitigation of sen- . tense. Mr Hesketh quoted from depositions taken in the lower court 1 as to the good character of the accused [ His Honor, remarked it was people : who had good characters who always did ; these things. If they were of bad character ! they would not have the opportunity. Mr Hesketh went on to say that accused was a i man ot 48 years of age, and had a family of eight. He was in good circumstwees till ! 1880, and that all moneys received by the ' accused had been entered in the books. Mr | Hesketh then read letters fr-nn the managers of the hanks in Waikato. Mr Edge--1 enmbe, proprietor of The Waikato Times, ' and others, certifying to the character and ; previous rrputation of t'le accused. He I also read a letter which accused had written I to Mr Holmes, Audit Inspector. He asked ' that the pris mer be treated under the First ' Offenders Probation Act. Mr Button said it was not a case for probation, as the ' charges extended over a long period of j time. Mr Holmes, Audit Inspector, was ! called by His Honor, and said he had not ' really discovered the defalcations till the 1 accused sent him a letter when he was f about to make the audit, although he was I suspicious. The total amount of the defall cations was £140, and extended over two or three years. Mr W. P. Chepmell, chair--1 man of the Piako County Council, deposed that prisoner's salary was £3 per week, and commission for collecting rates, which ' would amount to £40 or £o0 per annum. I Prisoner was also secretary to a Road Board. \ His Honor said he had carefully considered what had bden urged by prisoner's Council on his behalf and the letters put in. He " could not properly comply with the request ' to admit prisoner to probation. He at- " tached little importance to what had been ' said as to prisoner's previous good character, j It was only a person of good character who had the opportunity of coinmitt ; ng these 3 offences. It was a grave breach of trust ' and prisoner probably trusted to the lax ' system of audit, of which he (His Honor) ' had frequently commented on adversely. This lax system of audit had led men who [ otherwise would have been honest to be t dishonest. The sentence on each indictment would be two years' imprisoment with 1 hard labour, the sentences to be concurrent. ' Michael Ryan charged with assaulting Ed- ' ward Hughes with intent to do previous bodily harm was sentenced to two years imprisonment. (Br TELKfIBAI'If.—PBKSS ASSOCIATION.) Wellington*, List Night. Addressing the Grand Jury at the opening of the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice referred at length [ to the case in which Finley and Seel a-e I charged with shooting Greenrose. He ! pointed out the circumstances under which the charge might be reduced from one of murder to manslaughter. As to the provocation he said it should have been accompanied by personal violence before any ' justification could be raised for the use of 1 firearms. He thought the accused had been properly charged as joint defenders the evidence showing that Seel had urged Finlay to fire on Greenrose. His Honor's remarks in reference *o the Woodville abortion case were also at great length and he gave an exhaustive review of the circumstances of the charge. The other cases on the list were of an ordinary character and called for no mention. Peter Jensen, charged with the larceny of two swags pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The Grand Jury threw out the bill against C. Broadbent, charged with larceny i as a bailee. True bills were returned in the case of Finley and Seel, charged with murder, and William Syms charged with attempt to procure abortion. Henry Smith, alias Clark, was sentonced to eighteen months' hard labour for obtaining money under false pretences. Henry C. Cochrane pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a horse, saddle, and bridle.and was remanded for sentence. Freak. Thompson, alias Fatton, received two years for forgery at Pahnerston North. Mr Edwards made an application fur a special jury in Syms' case and also asked for a postponment owing to the absence of one of the chief medical witnesses. The Chief Justice will give his decision in the morning. The murder case against Finley and Seel will be taken to-morrow. Dunkdin, Last Night. The criminal calender contains inly four cases against three persons.