CRIMINAL CASES HEARD

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 118, 18 May 1920, Page 5

CRIMINAL CASES HEARD

AT SUPREME COURT. V; J ALLEGED ASSAULT. * ACQUITTAL AFTER DISAGREEMENT Ilio criminal sessions of the Supreme j Court, were contiuued yesterday after- j I noon and to-day, before Mr. Justice I Chapman. | j A THEFT CHARGE. ! ■ A man named Thomas Percival McQuil- \ Inn, with several aliases, was charged i with the theft of two rugs, a pea rirle, and a quantity of ladies' shoes and other ■ wearing apparel, and £13 7/ in money, the property of John Findlay. of Koutu, near Rotorua. Hon. J. A. Tole, K.C., prosecuted. Findlay. who identified the goods pro- ; duced in court as his property, said that . last March he returned home after an ] absence and found that someone had I broken in by the back door. A number j of articles were missing from the house, i Evidence was given that subsequent to ' this date the accused put tip at a ■boardinghouse in Grey Street. Auckland, and succeeded in selling a quantity of the goods to a secondhand dealer, who. be- j coming suspicious, informed the police. | In the accused's possession the police j found a recent railway ticket from Xgongotaha. a station about two miles from Findlay's house. The accused told the I police that a man named Charles Craig had handed him the goods to sell. It was found, however, that the accused had given that name to the secondhand dealer, and that Craig's alleged address I was his own address in Grey Street. : The accused, who had no counsel, made I a statement from the dock, reiterating j his statements to the police. The jury had not returned a verdict at the timp of going to press. TWO SUCCESSIVE TRIALS. Patrick Hunter, a member of the crew of the steamer Chepadoc, was charged with indecently assaulting a shipmate. The accused, who w«e not represented by counsel, stated to the jury that he | w : as drunk at the time of the alleged offence, and had no recollection of the happenings which the Crown witnesses deseribedT After a long retirement, in the course of which they visited the chip (now in port), the jury announced that tbev could not agTee. A new trial wae held this morning, and as the accused had applied in the interval to have eouneel allotted to him, Mr. V. R. 31eredith, who happened to be in court, was asked to act, and consented. The jury visited the ship, and came in after lnnch with a verdict of "not guilty." ISLANDER'S ALLEGED ASSAULT. A charge of assault .causing actual bodily harm, was laid tagamet Peter Pcke, an Islander, lately employed as chief cook on the steamer Waipori. It was alleged that the accused came aboard the ship drunk on March 30 last, and assaulted his assistant, John H. Thomas, aged 64. by kicking him repeatedly in the stomach. Mr. A. -T. Moody appeared for the defence. Thomas stated that as a result of one kick, which took him in tlie groin, he wan in hospital for a month, and since then he had been weak and quite unable to | work. The defence was a denial of any ansanlt, and it was also denied that the j accused was drunk on the day in question. The caec is proceeding. . j MANY TRUE BILLS. The Grand Jury continued its sittings to-day. True bills were returned in all the cases considered up to the latest announcement. With his Honor's consent, it was decided that the following prisoners, some Jof whose cases were still before the I Grand Jury, should not he tried, until next week in any event:—Alfred Hill, George Kelly, Dennis Gunn, Hona Herewini, Prank Dawsey, and Ifarry Golding, Oscar Paul Fairburn, Robert Charles Dixon, Patrick Francis Brosnihan, Percy Dare, Franklin John Smith, Joseph Verella,_ George Anderson, Ernest Stewart' and Hugh James Collins, Tony Srhoj, Percivel H. R. Homer.