YESTERDAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 48, 26 February 1901, Page 2

YESTERDAY.

(before iii.- Honor the Chief Justice-)

THEFT

William Laker, au clderiy ma.) pleau-U not guiny to a cbargy oi

Having on Nov.umer -2nd, at _\opu, Thames, stolen li tous ot pig iron, | tiit; property of Cha_. Sehni.., and \mh receiving the same knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained. L'risoner wis uct represented by counsel. The evidence showed tint i Sehiavi, a fisherman, left a quantity! ol iron ballast on the river' bank last j August. It disappeared, but he saw it again in November at Judd's foundry. Sehiavi identified it positively .is his iron. He also saw at the foundry some iron ballast belonging lo another boat. Mr Judd stated that the iron had been taken to the foundry by the accused. After a retirement of three-quarters of an hour the jury returned a verdict of guilty. His Honor said he was sorry to send an old man to gaol, but prisoner had been back- | wards and forwards to and from gaol i for the last twenty years, there being no less than seventeen convictions against him, several for larceny and j vagrancy. At the same time he did j not wish to be harsh on an old man, j so he would pass what was really rtj nominal sentence —three months' hard labour. i ATTEMPTED POCKET PICKING, j George Harris was charged that at | Epsom he did attempt to steal a purse anil 10/3 in money from the person of j John O'Dwyer. Prisoner pleaded not | guilty. O'Dwyer deposed that while • watching a trotting race at Potter's Paddock he felt a hand in his pocket, and turning round caught the prisoner, lie accused Harris, of picking j his pocket. Harris took no notice and gazed "into space." Witness repeated the accusation. Harris, with his eyes still fixed on space, remarked, "I think Wee Tonic has won." Witness accused him a. third time, and then Harris said. "You had better be careful whom you are accusing." Witness then got- a friend to watch the prisoner while he himself went for a policeman. After hearing other witnesses, including Detective Mcllyeney, the jury, after a brief retirement found the prisoner guilty. Harris asked His Honor to take into consideration that ho had already been two months in prison awaiting trial, and locked up twenty hours out of the twenty-lour every day. His Honor pointed out that there were four convictions against prisoner for larceny in Victoria, where he had also received eighteen months' hard labour for frequenting a public place with intent j to commit a crime. Apparently he and others had come from Victoria for the purpose of picking pockets on the racecourses of New ZealandPocket picking was an offence punishable by fourteen years' imprisonment, and though the present case was only an attempt to steal, His Honor looked upon it as being on a par with the oifenoe for which .lit- prisoner James Thomas had been punished that morning, and the sentence would therefore be the same as in that case—two years' hard labour. DISCHARGED. Karaka Kerapa, a .Maori youth, pleaded not guilty to three indictments—stealing a horse at Taupiri, belonging to Karena Takaro; receiving the said horse, knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained: and obtaining £2 from John Heyden Meliars by false pretences. The evidence showed that Kerapa took the horse to Meliars, representing it to be his own. and borrowed £2 from j Meliars on tlie security of the horse.! Accosed wanted the money to buy clothes and to go to the Mercer Regatta, and lie promised to repay the loan in cash. Accused, in defence said lie did not know he was doing wrong in acting as he did. The horse belonged to a relative, and lie (accused) had meant to give it back again. The jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, and prisoner was discharged. TRUE BILLS. The Grand Jury yesterday afternoon returned true bills in the following cases:—Julia Steenson, concealment of birth; Patrick Francis Hennessey, theft; John Deason (two charges), and Wm. Moisley, theft from v, vessel; Fredk. Follas, theft from a vessel; James Johnson, theft from a dwelling; Frank Evans, theft, and receiving; James Mason and Richard Carson, house-breaking and receiving; John Henry Rowe and Thos. Barrett, assault with intent, to rob, and attempted theft; William Small, theft from the person; Rawiri Taua, murder; William Hughes, forging and uttering, and false pretences; Carl Carlson, theft from the. person and receiving; Charles Moylan, assault, causing actual bodily harm; George William Smith, iudeeent assault; Julia Steenson, manslaughter; William Fahey, stupefying with intent and rape; James Millar, murder. This completed the work of the Grand Jury, who were thanked by His Honor and discharged.