NO NEW TRIAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1932, Page 5

NO NEW TRIAL

CASE OF P. SOLOMONS. JUDGE REFUSES APPLICATION. The motion by Phillip Solomons, printer, of Auckland, for leave to apply for a new trial has been dismissed. Judgment in the case was issued by.Mr. Justice Herdman yesterday afternoon. Solomons was sentenced, at the last criminal sessions, to two years''reformative .detention for aiding the commission of crime. He had been found guilty of counselling and procuring other men to forge cheques and to obtain money by false pretences. His Honor stated that the case for the Crown rested principally upon the evidence of two men, Morton and Gousmett, who were convicted criminals, and who had confessed to being Solomons' accomplices.- They had sworn that Solomons w ae associated with .them in obtaining goods or money, and in attempting to obtain property by false pretences. ■ His Honor'held that the case for the prosecution had not been met by accused in any way, and that the Crown evidence Was not-contradicted. The jury had been warned that it was not safe to convict a Person on the uncorroborated evidence °i. accomplices, but notwithstanding euch. warning it was competent for the kf r to convict. Concerning the chequeused, and the movements of uolomons, other witnesses besides the fwomp]j ceß • gave evidence. The corrowration need not be direct evidence that tuMccused committed the crime; it was sufficient, if it was merely circumstantial evidence of him being implicated. ~I- am,, of opinion," said his Honor, that it cannot be successfully contended that the verdict of the jury was against the weight of evidence. Whether the--witnesses were credible or otherwise *ae.for the jury to decide. The jury found accused guilty, and was entitled to do so if they decided that the weight of evidence was against him."