TAKING RESPONSIBILITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 34, 8 February 1906, Page 3

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY.

WITNESS SHOULDERS A RQBBEKY CHARGE. AN INTERESTING CAREER. J An unusual position was created in j connection with a robbery with violence I charge at the Supreme Court yesterday, j one of the witnesses called for the de- ' fence swearing that he, and not the two prisoners indicted, committed the crime. His story was, however, not accepted by the jury. Thomas Finnegan. who had been found guilty of stealing a sum of money from Thomas Elliott at Auckland on December 30th, was then joined with I Patrick Murphy on a charge of having committed robbery witTi violence at Auckland on December 29th, stealing a watch and chain, pendant, sovereign case and £ 1 9/ in money from Charles M. Spinier. The latter si ore that when he left an hotel in Albert-street Murphy held his hands behind him while the other prisoner committed the robbery. The accused declared that they knew nothing about the ease, bnt they' -wished to call ■ a witness. A bushnian named William Thompson. said be knew the accused wen. with whom he had a drink in the Criterion Hotel on December 30th. Spinley was there, playing a mouth organ and dancing what he termed a Cakewalk. The witness went on to say that after shouting drinks, Spinley became druuk, and :he asked Spinley if he was in that conj dition. "The prosecutor replied with a. hiccup," said the witness, "and with that I dropped my hand down the. side, of his trousers and heard money rattling- He -went out, and between the Criterion and Star Hotels I took from him a watch and gna*d and about 14/ or 15/ in money out of his pocket." Thompson added that he tried to sell the watch to a man named Lindsay, and put t-he sovereign case under some matting at the hotel. He sold the guard, but knowing he could not pawn : the watch without discovery, threw it into the harbour. The Hon. J. A. Tole: Yon must be an old criminal? —Witness: Not altogether. Only for the last eight years? —Yes. Since 1897 you have been in and out of gaol. Your last crime was the.ft, for which you go two years, having done a small sentence previously for forgery? —Yea. Do you expect the jury to believe you in regard to this case?— That is to be decided. His Honor: You hare to go before a jury on your own account? —Yes, I am undergoing sentence at the present time for assaulting the police, though they really assaulted mc. We had a prisoner the other day who was sentenced for being too honest; now we have one who was sentenced for being assaulted by the police! * Mr Tole: You don't mind being brought up for perjury, amongst other crimes?— Witness: I don't mind if the charge is proved. I haven't been convicted of perjury. His Honor: Quite right —resisting the police, 3 months; theft from the person, 12 months; forgery, 12 months; theft. two years; assaulting the police, 3 months; wilful dam-age, 1 month. Witness: I did thnee months for a publichouse row at Te Aroha. His Honor: Indeed! They haven't got that down. How did these gentlemen come to get your evidence? Mr Tole: He said in the Lower Court: I only learned of the charge in prison when I saw the prisoners, and asked them what they were in for. To the witness: You had a talk with them, and told them you were the. man who did it. It was nicely arranged that you were to be put up to take the responsibility?— Witness: Nothing arranged. I saw them for five minutes only. His Honor: How long have youj known these men? —A few years. It is not improbable that you sold the watch and chain, and that they robbed him. You||work these little job's together, I suppose ?—No. Mr Tole: There is a sort of "community of property"' amonget you, 1 suppose?— Not that I know of. Why did you call the sovereign case a matchbox in the Lower Court? — You can't put matches into a sovereign cas*? —I didn't know what it was. Thompson showed considerable haziness of recollection when the Crown Prosecutor wished him to state exactly where the sovereign case was secreted. He 6aid it was either under a carpet or matting, he didn't know which, as be did not understand the difference. Mr Tole showed surprise at such a display of ignorance, causing the witness to sharply repeat that he did not know the difference. "You have my convictions," he added, "and you know where IVe been for the last eight or nine years." Alfred J. Lindsay, a Chapel-street boardinghouse - keeper, stated that Thompson tried to sell him a watch, but did not succeed. His Honor explained to the jurors tnat they would have to decide upon the truthfulness or otherwise of the story which Thompson had told so ingenuously, so well, and so fluently. They would have to consider whether j the defence was not a put-up job between a person of admitted bad character and two others who, if they were honest and industrious, would hardly have bsen friendly with Thompson for two or three veers. A verdict of guilty was brought in, ond the prisoners were each sentenced to four years' imprisonment. was sentenced to four years concurrently for robbery from Elliott.