-FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS. I

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1923, Page 11

-FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS. I

! ' «tiMnrAi.'s plea. JUDGE TAICES PITY. ■ (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, July 27. 1 When asked whether he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him at the conclusion of a *sLse at the Melbourne Criminal Court this week, Uharles Winter based a plea for leniency on the fact that his father ffi s a criminal, and compelled him, at i 'tender age, to take up house-breaking , |e .a career. i The police confirmed this statement,' whereupon Mr. Justice Macfarlan, who lad intended passing a sentence of seven -jars, and declaring Winter to be an jitbitual criminal, let him off with two He was ordered to be detained, Ibvrever, at the expiration of the sentence, during the G«'vernor"s pleasure. With Michael McXamara, Winter had teen found piilty of house-breaking. "He told mc that his father made him take to j criminal career in his infancy," said one of the detectives referring to Winter. «I have little doubt that it is true." "I see you committed your first offence when you were quite a boy," said Hie Honor, addressing Winter, "and you have had nine pnor convictions, several o f them for bousebreakinrj and shopbreaking. But you have now arrived at a mature age and ought to be able to exercise your own judgment. You seem to possess some mechanical skill. I had intended givine you seven years' hard labour but I will now impose two years, and declare you to be an habitual criminal.