FIVE YEARS' PRISON

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 45, 21 February 1918, Page 6

FIVE YEARS' PRISON

FOR lIXEGAI. OPERATION. ATTITUDE OF JURIES. A sentence of five years' imprisonment! was passed on a woman named Maryj Rush, alias Haslett, at the Supreme Court this morning, for having, at Auckland, on November 27. 1917, unlawfully j ueed an instrument or other means on one Elsie McFarland, -with intent to procure a miscarriage. The prisoner was found guilty on Monday last. In passing sentence, MX- Juetice Stringer eaid that the prisoner had been convicted upon very clear evidence of a very serious offence, and he had been unable to find any circumstances that might mitigate punishment. It had teen suggested by counsel that the severity in these cases might cause the reluctance of juries to convict in offences of this description. It. was fairly evident, to his Honor's mind, that juries' were Teluctant to convict in sircb. caees, but if the law wae too severe it should be altered. It had also been said that' the immunity enjoyed 'by persons who submitted to these operations should he taken, into account. The law said that while life-imprisonment might be the punishment Of anyone found guilty of the performance of an illegal operation, the maximum penalty for those who submitted to the operation was seven years' imprisonment. The difference in the punishment was due to the facb that in tho one case the ofifence "was committed for the sake of money-making, while in the other it was usually resorted to as the result of great distraction, and the fear of shame and exposure.