SUPREME COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 57, 9 March 1899, Page 5

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSIONS.

YESTERDAY;

(Before Mr .Justice Conolly.)

Three Years. —William John McKenzie, a young man with a number of previous convictions against him, was found guilty of the theft from the Hukerenui Hotel of a cash-box containing the sum of £15 5/, and was sentenced to thi-ee years' imprisonment, with hard labour.

Charge, of Theft.—David Kelly, a : native, pleaded not guilty to a charge o;f having- broken and entered the i store of Charles Henry Beresford, at I a locality in the Bay of Islands district, and stolen therefrom 282 pounds weight, of kauri gum and three gumknives. Mr .7. A. Tole conducted the case for the prosecution. The accused was not represented by counsel. The prosecutor and several natives gave evidence, and the further hearing of the ense was adjourned till this mornTHIS DAY. This morning the charge of stealing kauri gum at Aratora, in the Bay of Islands district, preferred against David Kelly was resumed. Two Maori witnesses and Constable Keep, of Kaikohe, gave evidence for the prosecution. The accused gave evidence on his own behalf, and in the course of cross-examination admitted that he had been previously convicted and sentenced to four months' imprisonment for stealing gum. He called witnesses on his behalf.—The jury found the accused not i guilty, considering that the evidence : was insufficient, and the prisoner was discharged. A Probationer Sentenced. —A Maori named Taaheta, who was convicted ! last year on a charge of having broken j and entered a whare at Poroti. and of having stolen a gun therefrom, and who was released on probation, and ordered to pay a certain amount of money as restitution and costs, was brought up for sentence, he having failed to comply with the terms of his probation. Mr*Reston, Probation ficer, and Constable Sheehan, of Whangarei, gave evidence. His Honor sentenced the accused to six months' imprisonment with hard labour. Seven Years' Hard Labour. —A powerful looking negro named Robert Harris pleaded guilty to a charge of having, on January 29th. unlawfully wounded one Joseph Winter, and caused him actual bodily harm. Dr. Laishley addressed the Court on behalf of the accused, and said Harris had had provocation. His Honor said the case was a very bad one, the accused having stabbed the man in a dangerous place in the neck. It was fortunate that Harris was not there on a charge of either murder or manslaughter. He had knocked a man down and beat him while he was lying defenceless on the ground, and bit him on the face. Winter then said, as any man would have said, that Harris deserved a 'good licking' for such cowardly conduct, whereupon Harris set on him and stabbed him through the ear and in the neck, narrowly missing- the large blood-vessel in the neck. His Honor said lie must severely punish such an.assault, and he sentenced Harris to be imprisoned in Mount Eden Gaol, and kept to hard labour for the term of seven years. /