"NEVER INTENDED."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 257, 30 October 1928, Page 8

"NEVER INTENDED."

MT. ROSKILL ASSAULT GASE.| "HAPPENED IN SCUFFLE." THREE YEARS' IMPRISONMENT. "I only wish to say that the assault was never intended. It was a general scuffle, but I have never wilfully lifted my hand to any man." With a tremulous zing in his voice, Arthur James Connop, the man concerned in the Mount Roskill assault case, made this plea when he appeared before Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court this morning, to hear his sentence in respect to four charges of breaking, entering, and theft, and a further charge of assault, causing actual bodily harm.

Accused asked that in passing sentence his Honor should take into account his previous good character. "This is the first time I have ever been before the Court," he added. "The fact that I could not get work caused me to do what I have done. I have given the police every assistance I could."

His Honor: That is quite right, Connop.

He reminded accused that there was a time in New Zealand when conviction on the charges on which he appeared before the Court would have meant that he would have spent the rest of his days in gaol. That, however, was not the policy to-day. Accused was also armed with a weapon that might have been more dangerous than it happened to be. Connop said that it was only after others arrived on the scene that Franklin received the injuries. He did not let go of the spike he carried, and it was just in the rough and tumble that everything happened.

His Honor said Connop had a good record as a seaman, but house-breaking and burglary was a serious offence that could not be regarded lightly. If he treated the present case in that manner they would have other first offenders embarking on similar crimes. He could not overlook the matter, though he would very much like to do so. Accused's case, however, would be subject to review by the ""risons Board. The sentence of the Court was two years' reformative detention on the breaking and entering charges, and one year on the assault charge, the sentences to be cumulative.