CRIMINAL SESSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 110, 10 May 1923, Page 7

CRIMINAL SESSIONS.

VEED ICTS OP NOT GTO.TY. k~.r- SERIOUS CHARGES FAIL. . Thi. Criminal Sessions were continued ■ : »t the Auckland Supreme Court yesterday Kforeiheir Honors Mr. Justice Stringer ' „« Mr. Justice Herdman. * An old man of s.-renty years, Henry ■ fiihb (Mr. K. A. Singer) pleaded not SJr to • char^e of ince3t ' the °^ c Unt alleged to have been committed ■ Shis daughter, a woman of between 3Q and 40 years of age, over a period oftbree years. . 1 • The daughter, In cross-examination Vγ Mr Singer, admitted that she had had j five illegitimate children of different ' wternity. She also admitted that after J L r fathers arrest her husband, -with , her knowledge suid approval, sent him friendly letters. I Mr. Justice Herdman directed the Jury I ilutt on the evidence tendered it would l>e extremely dangerous to convict the ; accused. h ' A verdict of not guilty was returned. & THE AGE OF CONSENT. ■ " The question whether a Maori girl was of the age of consent when a native . Butene Topi had carnal knowledge of her was investigated before Mr. Justice Stringer and a jury. Mr. A. H. Johnitone represented the accused. The prosecution endeavoured to i show fcv reference to a school register that the girl was about thirteen years old, and the faot was brought out that she wa* born four months after the death of a fitter. Mr. Johnstone, however, showed that there had been four deaths in the family : and that her father neither knew hie own I age, his wife's age nor the age of any of I iii children. He contended that the I obvious maturity of the girl disproved the suggestion of the Crown that ehe was several years under the age of con- , lent. . A verdict of not guilty was returned. A CHEQUE STORY. A charge of stealing a cheque for £20, or alternatively of receiving it, was denied by Albert Edward Lindsay, lab- :. ■ ourer, who was defended by Mr. J. J. .'.".• Sullivan. ..•■The Crown case was that a fruiterer named William Henry Thomson dropped the cheque accidentally at the fruit . market on February 19, and that subsequently the accused used the cheque to make a bet with a billiard saloon keeper on Gojd Plane running at - Thames and from whom he got £10 change. 'Lindsay was traced through the bank, payment of the cheque being •topped. Prisoner's etory to Detective I McHugh was that an athletic-looking stranger spoke to him and gave him the : . cheque, to make-the bet and that the change was handed over to the man, I -. whom he-had not seen since, although there was an arrangement to meet him : - next day. \: The billiard shloon keeper, answering Mr. Sullivan, iaid he did not recall accused, making reference to any other person when the bet was booked. It Pvae put down to Lindsay. TAUG Or A TOTE TICKET. The alleged faking of;* totalisator ■ ticket was the subject of a'charge against two labourers, John Alexander Camp- . tell (31) Summer Street, Ponsonby, i*:(Mr. B. A. Singer) and Samuel Smith (M) Franklin Road, Freeman's Bay, .■■'■■- iWfrr-A. Moody), which was : heard befcrtllr. Justice Stringer and a jury. ;It.was alleged by the Crown that at .■Jprslie on March 31, the two accused Altered'a 10/ totalisator ticket which ■ was on horse ifo. 22 in the Eden Handi\ep so that it appeared to be on Ko. 20, King Quin, the winner of the race, which, I Mr. Vf R. Meredith, the Crown Prosejmtbr, said paid a big dividend. -The ticket was presented by Campbell . and. the police were called, ' with the result that the two accused were -arrested. Campbell's statement was ' that a man named Bam had picked up \ the ticket and asked him if it was any : j good, i Campbell thought it was, and -'-. . the other man gave it to him to pre- § tent, on the understanding that they - ... : Would share the dividend. Smith in turn. told the police he tfad picked up the ■ ticket and he corroborated Campbell's Statement, adding that he had had a" few ,■ drinks at the time. In the witness-box Campbell said he ;■;■;. lonestly believed the ticket was genuine.. He. never noticed the words ■'•. "twenty-two" on it. Mr. Moody pointed out that Smith . lad had bad luck at the races, and as, / in such cases, he had been Vf drowning his sorrows in liquor. ■;' pis Honor: And when they have luck ■•_.r they celebrate it. M "Smith, on oath, repeated his statef , fcent to the police, and in reply to the ; Crown Prosecutor, said that when I" Campbell went to the totalisator he *fnt for a drink. Witness did not rev torn, to the tote because there was- no .."• 'JV:' "rat .the "machine, and he expecte.d I to see Campbell next day. .His Honor said that "it was possible the ticket had been manipulated by . jome one more out of idleness than any- '•-■.: "ing else, and in the state in which it ?vf: ; le ft Jt could not deceive .an inwlligent child, because "Twenty-TW' «s printed on it. His Honor added »at it was simply a question of the Inference to be drawn. m£ T£ rdict of not guilty was returned, ana the accused men were discharged, "W Honor hoping the case would bl a wnwg tothem not to drink too much " «i£ i 1 io a PPropriate things they P'«ed U p without knowin e wheth( £ i™? , were genuine or not. , GOTLTY AGAIN. KM& m n?i J T*\^ en V° H Waß found 'kf«» ln ,4fff nt exposure on April 12 s> E , • lt^ le girK On two ot «« warges of indecent assault on different «es accused was dismissed. His Honor •» remanding prisoner for sentence on eakwVL ren » arked that he had previ- °° nvi cted fof exposing him...«elf. before three little girls.