SUPREME COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 194, 15 August 1904, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

nRTMTNTAT, SESSIONS. i, (Before Mr Justice Edwards^ A £50 FINE. The trial of Harry Johnson, of Dargaville, for stealing a £1 note while getting change of a cheque at the Dargaville Hotel on a race day last December, was completed on Saturday evening. Henry Gostnan. another jockey, gave evidence in support of the prisoner's version that the pound note which he was seen to put into his breast-pocket, was one which a jockey named Hicks . gave him on a lost bet. The jury found the prisoner gufltv of theft. * Sentence was deferred till this morn- | ing, when His Honor said that although he agreed with the jury in their verdict he regarded the act more as a I foolish acffc committed under sudden temptation, and with the very reprehensible idea of avenging himself upon the hotelkeeper for imaginary grievance. Two circumstances, however were" against him: One was his previous convictions, and the other was His Honor's very strong suspicion that the cvi- , dence supported by the two jockey boys , bad been concocted between him and them. The previous convictions, howI ever, were not for acts of dishonesty, ; | and under all the circumstances he | thought he might give him the opportunity | tunity of pay : ng a fine. The fine would |be fixed at £50, in default six months' ] | imprisonment, and accused must also j j j repay the stolen pound, as provided by j j section 419 of the Code. " j ; His Honor mentioned that during the ' I last session of the Court the accused , i was fined for an assault, and had paid £34 10/ of that fine. This would be ; j the last occasion on which he would be given the option of a fine. On Mr Reed's application accused was given two months in which to pay the fine, NO BILL. Lizzie Corney, whose charge of theft ' . had been thrown out by the Grand Jury, was brought up and formaUy discharged. i SCOW-BOY'S ESCAPADE. William Knight, a youth who had pleaded guilty to stealing a dingey and other goods from a scow, was brought up for sentence. On the recommendation of the Probation Officer, he was released on probation for two years. AMONG THE LIQUORS AT ELLERSLIE. Three younj; men of Ellerslie, named John Fairley, Hugh Murray, and Joseph Monaghan, came up for sentence on a charge of breaking into the Ellerslie Hotel and stealing a quantity of liquor. \ His Honor said that on account of the prisoners' previous good character, their youth, and the Probation Officer's • favourable report, he would release the ' accused on two years' probation. He warned them to turn their backs upon j public-house bars and idle and dissolute 1 habits for the future. A WOMAN SENTENCED. A rather delicate looking woman named Annie Sarah Howard, alias Madge Charmley, who 1 1 previous!v served sentence of one month for theft, was sent back to prison for one year for theft from a dwelling. l JAY ON TRIAL. Leonard Montefiore Jay, a youth, the claimant for damages in the recent civil action against a Mount Eden Gaol warder, came up for trial on a charge of 1 stealing a silver tie pin from Rose Horsef fall, a dressmaker in business near his » shop in Hobsorj-street The evidence was to the effect that the accused took the pin from a pincushion on the wall and put it into his tie. Mrs. Horsefall told him not to take it away, as she would not part with it for any money. Later he told her it was broken, and a jeweller was mending it, but in reality he had pawned it. Mr. Lundon defended the prisoner. k Mr Lundon severely questioned the prosecutrix and her witnesses as to the ; nature of her relationship with the ac- '_ fused, but the replies gave a distinct det nial of any familiarity. Prosecutrix stoutly denied that she gave the pin to Jay. A pawnbroker named Ohlsen said he lent the accused 7/6 on the pin. Detective McMahon, the last witness, * proved the arrest. Mr Lundon proposed to call three wits nesses in defence. (Proceeding.)