ASSISTED TO ESCAPE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLI, Issue 9289, 10 August 1920, Page 4

ASSISTED TO ESCAPE.

PRISONER'S ALLECTION.

AN AUCKLAND INCIDENT.

(Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, August, 9. " . The allegation that he had been "of-' " fioial'ly assisted" to escape from Mount,, Eden gaol was made in the Supreme'- ' Court by Daniel Murray, when ,he was-' *; tried, , before Mi* Justice ' Stringer •• on *' charges', of escaping, from prison on," January .10,, and stealing from a houise-' ' clothing valued at £16. The prisorier, ", ■ who was not represented, by counsel,.' adopted an attitude of defiant bravado, and "frequently had" to be''rebuked by ' the Judge. The charges were,heard separately, and" on each occasion Miir- " ray exhausted his right of challenge 0f.." jurymen, and he objected when, the; > ' Crown ordered-more than six' jurymen" '" to stand aside. His Honour informed him that the Crown could order any number to stand aside. An adjourn-.,-,, ment was asked by prisoner on the ']' ground thaL he wanted to subpoena,,,' the Controller-General of (Prisons. His Honour: What do you want him ' for£ . , ■ ' ' Murray: I want to know if lie is in- « Court. .' '

_ His Honour: I do not .know, and if" i I did know I should not tell you. Murray: I wish him to give evidence; . that I was officially assisted to escape- ' from gaol. His Honour: What nonsense! I will'" ' not grant you an adjournment on that-- . plea. MuiTay: It i» no nonsense. * His Honoiu-: Well it appears to be an absurdity, and it is I who decide >■ the matter. Evidence was then given as to ac- . cused making his escape by means of a rope of blankets,, weighted, with' an. ' iron stone-breaking chisel. It was stated that prisoner must have climbed•'' up the rope- from the courtyard in a,'. ', corner whore' the sentry could not see him, and .swung over the outside wall. When, he was arrested three months later he was wearing a suit of clothes " ' missed from a house in the vicinity of" the gaol. • Murray did not give evidence, butobtained leave to call a prisoner named William Brewer. - • ■ r \ -, • >'■>•[' Murray: What-sentence are you do- " ing? > - - ; - ; s , Brewer: I am not doing a sentence.' I was arrested twelve months ago and- - put in gaol without a trial. A civilian, > who was an ex-warder, arrested me' without warrant. ( •, , . - . . i His, Honour: What has this got todo Avith the case ? x >- Murray-: I want to show I was driv- '■ en from Mount Eden by the treatmentI got. . / - - .., j His Honour refused 'to hear any more evidence from Brewer, who was- 1 s< led away, shouting that he was entitled to trial under the Habeas Corpus Act. , It was a British Act, and he- • was entitled to trial. . . : Murray joined in, and) said: "I am. coing to expose things, in this Court, if I have to murder someone to' doit." When asked if he had any more evidence Murray, said that apparently it was no good calling a 'witness. ' '/„ His Honour: Yes, if if is relevant to whether you escaped.or not... ■ „\\ Muray: No, I will turn it up. Prisoner then made a long address, 1 ,7 in which he complained bitterly of the law relating to habitual-orimnalis^; He contended that he had been ■wrong- „ fully declared 1 an habitual criminal ip."----1912, when he was 18 years old,. This had "murdered" him. „' v , . , - His Honouir: Forl'a murdered' 'man , yon have been pretty- lively since 1912. Tli© Judge then read, out prisoner's convictions since that time. • He im- ' posed a sentence of two years' imprisonment, to be concurrent^-with the; sentence of two years' hard^ labour the prisoner is at • present ; serving, for' theft from a dwelling, ' and' ; he again declared him an habitual criminal.