SUPREME COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 203, 26 August 1913, Page 6

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAI, SESSIONS. Tho criminal sessions of the Supremo Court were continued to-day before hie Honor Mr. Justice Cooper. YOUNG MAN'S DEFALCATIONS. j The voang man, Clarence Harold Kobinson, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzling a sum of £328 from the funds of the City Council in his capacity as clerk in the City Treasurer's OUice, was brought irp for sentence. Mr. J. R. Reed, K.C., for the prisoner, made a pica for leniency, on the ground that the prisoner came of a respectable family, aild had led an bonnet life prior to the defalcations he had admitted. He was a married man with one child, and his lapse'from hojioety was due to the fact that he had got behind a-nd had attempted to better his position by betting extensively, the result being that he got further into the mire. In such a case, counsel submitted, the conviction itself was the worst punishment, but he was assured that if it were found necessary to commit him to prison hia friends were ready to give him employment upon his discharge. Robinson had given himself up to the police as soon as the defalcations were discovered, and had afterwards given every assistance in tracing the money. .s R. S. Briggs, formerly Wayor of Parnoll, F. S. Murray, nUo i>. resident of Parnoli, and Constable Bonovan, stationed there, etatcd that they had known Robinson for a number of yearn, and believed that he had. 1M a respectable lifeHis Honor said that h« could not apply the provisions of the First Offenders Act in the present case, seeing that there was a series of defalcations extending over a long period—from September, lflll, to July. Hll3—and indicating a definite system. It was only through an insufficient check that the prisoner was enabled to cover up his defalcations, and they were, in fact, discovered only by accident. lie considered the case a very serious oue, and the evidence of good character must bear little weight, since while he enjoyed a good reputation and a position of trust he had abused the latter so long and so ing<uiiously by eyKtcmatieally robbing his employer. To treat euch a case leniently would bo to hold out a pre mium to firturc offender*. The prisoner would be sentenced to n period of re- ' formative treatment not exceeding throe years. The leng-th of his detention i would be a matter for decision by the j Prisons Board.

ALLEGED ILLEGAL OPERATION. ■letiHio Armstrong, a middle-aged woman, for whom Mr \V. E. Hnckett appeared, was charged that on March 20 last she unlawfully uecd nn instrument with intent to procure abortion. Hon. .f. A. Tolc, who prosecuted, said that in March, a young woman who found herself in trouble, went to the accused, who professed to be able to U?ll fortuixw. In the course of conversation the accused told the girl that ehe looked troubled, ami Hoon obtained her ittory from h«r. AecUHod tihen suggested that if tho girl paid hex a viert later she could remove the trouble. The girl vini trtl her at her bouee on the aitcruoon of .March Hi, and the acemted then per-i-orajttl an afterwards sending ■ebo tfubjett to a minting horn« in Grey Lynn, wb«r«» the «i!*carri*jjn occurred. The girl afterward* became itorimndy ill, tw«> doctor* having t<» bo called in to attend her, hut «he recovered. The accuaed, when arrewtod, admitted ownmp an inetnimen* found at her house, but denied ui-.Li she h-ad iweti it.

The yotrog wmao, who, it wae alleged, mid hi-nn the subject of the operation, gave pvideDce on tihe lrnne af couneol's rtUitonent, having fimt be«n formally cauUuncd by hia \V«»whip, addring Uint t-h<; fee agreed upon wan £S. and that «he paid the necuerd £7 on the day the operation wae performed.

Cro!»-<!xaniined. 'the iwftiwse «*aid jJi-at ehe had xi first told ttui deteotivce that fhe had h-.id a mifti-amagc, an<l later th.it the jnisoajT-iage had ■been th<> rcmik. of ])ilhi that ehe had taken. Rhe did co with tho object of phieiding the aecneed. i!h*> {Ulowml her parent* tx> conmrit a solicitor "with a view tt» bringing to book ilw young Tiron who wae the eauso of the trouble. Thin was also with the object •af rfuoiding Xlre Arm«rtrong. She wee nJteTwurde convinced her Bin, and deoided tr> toU the w-IroJe iruth.

Mrs Mary Jane Otto, who wae oho formally eawiioned, fctated that ehe received patients for nursing α-t h«r honec in R-URsell Street, Ponsonby. On March 20 la«t, in consequence of information «he recciv*<l iT-om her daughter, ehe frepaxed to receive a patient, and just before tea-time the young "uranan who had juet giv-nn evidence arrived. She mis put to bed. and "the next morning witness discovered that an iHegal operation 'had bern performed.. Two dnye latter a miKsirrkxpo occurred, and as the girl got steadily worec. a doctor was o.illetl in, the servicce of anoliicr beinjj required later. The detectives caHed at ', the ihonee before th<? girl loft, which was ' about tei\ d<vyn after li<t arrival. She ts]>olso to the accused eJter the girl had been titkon away, and told Ivor about 13»o vi«rt -of it.he detectivce. The aocueed eaid that ehe hoped that the gir) wonld get well, and thai them 'would be no trouble. The girl 'brought her three in an envelope on the day of ■her arrival. Tho youiijj man who wae reepoiwabVe for tho giri'e cond'i-tion pxid ■hear iMO 10/, out otf 'which she paid tho doetore- , billn.

CncßS-oxaininad, the witness said that the detectives came to tho houec after the girl's relatives 'had discovered that she was there. She loUl tho detectives at first that the miscarriage had been caused by liicdicino' tho girl had taken. They had not used any threats of prosecution to her, but she saw her position, aud eventually decided to tell tho whole truth, an ehe saw that there would lie trouble far nJI concerned. Hitherto she had been moved by a desire Lo shield Mrs. Armstrong, and her decision was not due to any promise from Uie detectives that she would not be prosecuted for her share in the affair. She had received no such promise, but naturally she hoped that she would not be prosecuted.

Mary leabal Otto, daughter o-f tho previous -witness, stated that ehe bad known the accused for some years. On tho afternoon of March 20 she was at the accused's house in Soutß Street, Newton, and tho accused then gave her a message to her mother, to the effect that she wae ■ o get ready for a patient, and later in tbc day the young woman arrived, aa Mrs. Armstrong had said. When told later on that the detectives had been to the house, the accused said that she hoped the girl -would get well, and that things would be all risht. The case is proceeding. AiLLEGED CATTLE-STEAUNG. Harry Smith, an old man, pleaded not guilty to having, on or about May 30tth, laefc, at CornwaHis, stolen aai ox. Mr. Selwyn Mays .prosecuted for the Crown,

and Mr. J. E. Lundoa appeared for tbe accused. The case for the prosecution ■was that a settler in •the neighboarbood of OonrwaHiifl, on the Mamrka.ii Harbour, lost a beast. Accused was seen assisting at th,e catting up of a carcase, the remains of which were afterwards identified as those of iJbc missing animal. The jury returned a verdict of not guflty. ACQUITTAL ON SERIOUS CHARGE. Cbas. Cunningham, who -was d-efendc-d Iby ■Mγ. R. A. Singer, pleaded not gmiHy to a of a&?a.ultdng a married woman in v. chop in Karangahaipe Road witli intent U> coannrit a serious offence. The woman who was aJleged fco have •been assaulted cried out for helip, and initde curtain a/Hegations apadnst the acousod. These, 'howeiner, »he ia4.er modifiod, and the deienee was a demal of the oliarge with si suggestion that the woman was too drank ai. t!he time to knffw what she was saying. The jury acquitted accused.