SUPREME COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 135, 7 June 1907, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

' CRIMINAL SITTINGS. -1 • The criminal sittings of the Supreme (Court were continued before Mr. Justice I Dennistnn yesterday afternoon, the Hon. i J. A. Tole appearing for the Crown. ] THE AGE OF CONSENT. t Maurice Vernon Jones, a young man, _w*s indicted on a charge of having had illegal relations with a girl under the age of 16 years at Mount Eden on February 28th. Accused was defended by Mr. J. R LundonIn opening the ease for the prosecution, the Hon. J. A. Tole said the girl, who Wis 14 years of age, wa* employed as a servant in the boardinghouse at which the accused boarded- On the -date in question the girl left the house, with a hamper, which accused volunteered to . help her to carry. They both went some distance together, when they sat down, and after a time the offence was committed. The circumstances of the case were admitted by the defence, and the point was whether the prisoner had reasonable • I grounds for believing that the girl was . J over the age of 16 years. I The girJ. in giving evidence, said she was 14 years of age. She resided with her parents. On February 11th she went to work at a boardinghouse. and remained there until February 2Sth. The accused boarded at the 'house. She left i about, s p.m. on February 28th, and aej cased asked if he could carry her hamper, and asked her to wait at the gate. ,-?ne waited at the gate for him about five minutes. Prisoner joined her, and they went down Khyber Pass into BurieighI street, thence down Mt. Eden-road to j the railway l me , and along the line. Be- | tween the railway bridge and the amniu- | nition fa-dory they both sat .down, and j a-ccused subsequently committeds the ofj fence. Aiterwards prisoner told her not to tell his landlady anything about it. ■ When she reached home she was excited, and told her mother what bad happened. j Subsequently her father reported the I matter to the police. She saw a doctor : , the same night. To Mr. Uundon: She told her employer when she went to the boardinghouse i that she was 16. Her employer had notspoken to her about her behaviour with the boarders. Beiore she went to tbe i boardinghouse she had been keeping com- I • pa.ny with someone p]s». she did not , j tell her employers niece that she was 16 j years of ags. Prisoner had escorted her ! half-way home on two or three occasions, j Witness denied stating thai she had told I Jones she was 17. At this stage his Honor stated that | the evidence might be confined to mc j cross-examination of witnesses on the ; question of age. I Medical evidence was given to the ef- j j-feet that the girl was not an abnormally I developed girl. She was a well-developed I ,girl. and might be judged by the average I j moividuaL to be 16 years of ace. ! ; Had the girl told witness that she « = as I 16, there was nothing about her thatI would lead him to disbelieve ber. ' j The father of the girl said his daugh- ■ ter was 14 years of age on the 4th February last. ' Evidence of arrest was given by ' J Carroll When charged, accused" replug ' I that the girl told him she was 17, getting | | on for 18. Accused was very frank, and ; to,d witness everything. I | Tbe proprietress of a boardinghous- ! said the girl was employed by her during I , j part- of February. When she came =he ' , told witness she was If,. Subsequently i j the girl aad reiterated that her a°-"e ■ was 16. Witness spoke to her on several I occasions about being too familiar with ' I the -boarders, especially mentioning the I Moused. Witness told the accused that ! | the grrl had said she was 17 years of arre I ! Accused told witness the girl had told j him her age was 17. j Three other witnesses deposed to hear- i i mg the girl say her ace was 17 j The accused. givThg evidence on bis own j behalf swore positively that tbe girl had I told hun her age was 17. He believed j ! "be girl to be 17. ! | This concluded the evidence, and the '■ | Court, adjourned until this moraine i After hearing his Honor's summing- 1 np. the jury considered their verdict ihey returned m fifteen minutes. Undine Jones not guilty, gad he was discharged PUKEKOHE PERJURY CASE. i NEW TRIAL ASKED FOB. ! T} *V l h J e I ttri =5 of a charge of perjury I against the former manager of Whanca- , rata creamery. Frederick William Lucas, > | was concluded yesterday, Mr. J R_ i j Lundon and the' Hon. J. A. Tole adI dressed the jury at length. His Honor | then summed up, and the jury. after ! I retiring for an hour and a half returned js verdict of guilty. | I The prisoner came up for sentence : J this morning, when his counsel. Mr. J. B. Lundon, applied to the Court for ' j leave to apply to the Appeal Court for j la new trial, on the ground that the v-. r- I dirt, was against the weight of evidence, j I His Honor remarked that it was for I jthe jury to weigh the evidence. There] . had been a complete case on the one side, and a complete case on the other, j and it must be assumed that the jury ! believed one case, disbelieving the other, j Unless the Court of Appeal placed itself j in the position of a jury, how couid it '■ say tlie weight of evidence was against j the verdict? Mr. Lundon: I am only quoting the j language of the section. His Honor replied that this was so. , ibut jhow ertuld Mb. Lundon contend j that the verdict was against the weight ( of evidence? There was a well-known I maxim are weighed and not' numbered." Undoubtedly the number ! of witnesses was in favour of the ac- ; cused. in order to allow Mr. Lundon time io prepare argument on the matter, ' he decided to postpone sentencing the prisoner until Monday. TO-DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. A MIDNIGHT INCIDENT. "VIOLENT HOTEL LODGER. John Kenneth Cameron, a middle-aged man. pleaded not guilty to a charee of having, on May 4th, assaulted Lucy I Crocker and Flora Freeman so as to do ! them actual bodily harm. Mr. Singer j appeared for the defence. '• Lucy Crocker, sister-in-law of the licensee of the Wynyard Arms Hotel. I Symonds-street, said the accused, on the , night of May 4th, engaged a room. He j seemed quite sober at ten o'clock. Late j that night or early nest morning wit- | ness was aroused by singing and shout- j ing, and she went to the -accused's room | to remonstrate with hiii\ The door was ajar, and she Cameron lying on the bed fully dressed. She went into the room, touched the accused, and asked j him to "be quiet as everybody wanted to sleep, Cameron immediately struck j 1 out at her, knocldng the candle out of | ■

her band, and followed this with a nxunber of kicks and blows. Mrs. Freeman, alarmed by witness's cries, came in, and was also violently asasuited. "Witness bad two black eyes, a cut face, and was bruised all over, -while Mrs. Freeman jiad a terrible cut near the month. ' I Replying to Mr. Sinjrer, witness said j that after tbe first blow the candle went j out. and tbe acused would not be able j tc, see tvho was m the room. There .was no reason -why the accused should j have acted in that manner. He could , i not have been asleep because be had • j been shouting and singing. • j Flora Freeman, sister ci the last witjness, said ihat when she went to Miss j Crocker _, assistance she was struck violently in the mouth, and ieil do-cm. Then , accused kicked her in the side. I Frederick Freeman, tbe licensee, said i be was called to Cameron's bedroom, 1 (and heard the accused declare he wanted I fair play. He appeared to be sober. ' . P r having given evidence of the 1 I injuries sustained by Miss Crocker -and Mrs. Freeman, Detective Shine statea . ! that tbe accused was dazed when arj rested. He declared that two women land a man bad come into his bedroom jto rob him. j Mr. Singer asked the jury to find on j the evidence for tbe prosecution that I the accused never deliberately did any I harm, but was acting under a'bona fide j belief that be was acting in self-defence. ! His Honor said the case was extremely I simple. Nobody suggested that the atj cused meant to injure the women, but jit was no excuse that a man by his own I act put himself into such a condition j mentally and morally, that he acted as this man had done. It would be a most dangerous thing if the law -was I otherwise. I Detective Shine, recalled, said the ac- | cused had £ 1 8/ in his possession when ! arrested. Cameron was found guilty by the jury after a brief retirement, and his Honor deferred sentence until to-mor-row morning. ALLT.GEP THEFT. P-illiam Henry Cresswell. a carter, pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing Twenty tins of fish from the Auckland \> nan", and receiving twelve tins knowing ; them to have been stolen. Mr. J. It. j Lundon defended. j Tbe first witness called for the prosei cution was Juhn Henry Humphries, talley clerk for Messrs. Haddart, Parker. , and Co. In .answer to Mr. Tole, witness ! stated that he rem-tub, red the date on I which tbe allegeu offence took place. He ; was on duty on tbe wharr at the D shed. j There was a lot cf cargo discharged in j the shed from the Zealandia. His attention was drawn to 2 broken c__* about i 11.30 a,m., and lie examined and found j the content- intact, and he nailed the ! case up again. He knew the prisoner, I and saw him drive into the shed that j morning, within eight or ten yards of I t l -. c_. .in question. The carters employi ed by the _ai__ iiira as accused were the. i only carters he saw in the shed between I hall-past eleven and twelve. He noticed j ! CrO-Swell and two other men walk away - from the corner vrbere tbe case was. After waiting a few minutes, witness walked | j down the alleyway and noticed tie lid of ! the case of fish thrown back, and about] twenty tin- missing, but could see nc j trace oi any tins about. He informed the 1 j storekeeper, but did not kn"w whether 1 i he felt the nosebags under tue prisoner's j waggon before or -after he informed the I t storekeeper. Jn one-of the-bag* he found i a number of tins, and examined one and J found it to be the same those missing. :He afterwards informed the delivery I clerk of the company, who went back j ; wita him, and examined the nosebaas. ] j They then waited till the accused came j out with his waggon, and after some con- j I versation the delivery clerk asked him j bow many tins of fish he had in his noseI bag, and accused replied. " I don't know." ', j He was then told if he did not take them j j back be wouid be givenvin charge. Acj cused then drove back to the shed, and j undid his nosebag from underneath the J waggon and produced twelve tins of 1 fish, and without being spoken to said,, i"' 1 did not put. them all xjj. but 1 will ! take the blame on myself. 1 won't put i anyone away." Cross-examined by Mr. i Lundon: He bad known accused for about | twelve or eighteen months. There was no j vessel at the wharf. It was a very slack j morning, and there were no other carters ] getting stuS' away—that is. between hali- j pa.-t eleven and twelve. They might have , been loading pipes outside the shed.