PRISONER'S APPEAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 153, 1 July 1938, Page 8

PRISONER'S APPEAL

DETENTION TERM.

DEEMED COMPLETED

SEQUEL TO ESCAPE. (By ToU-trrat.h.-rrcss Association.) WELLINGTON", this .lay. The Appeal (curt delivered judgment to-day in the case of Wilson v. tli Attorm.y-(:,.,„, ■« 1. The originating s „ n , nions issued in this case and heard I, the Court of Appeal o„ .!„„,, 20 raise] the question :is to whether the senteuc imposed on Wilson should he deemed < include a prnVd of time durin- whirl Wilson was at large, or whether th sentence ceased to run upon his eseapi and commenced again on liis rearrest. 'I he Court, in delivering its jud'nnon to-.lay, deeid-d that the" pri»oner wa entitled to the henetit of the (K-rio. during which i,e was at lai-e and tin his sentence was now completed. The Chief .ln-tiee. Sir Michael .Myers said he eould find nothing in ronii law which ju-ti/it-<l a gaoler delainiu; the prisoner heyon.l the expiry tern mentioned in the original wan ant. }I. was compelled, therefore, to the opinio, that the <pienti<m should he answered l>\ saying that the period of imprisonment could not Ik> extended by adding th. neriod during which the prisoner was U 1 large. If it was thought that the law was defective the position could 1* remedied by legislation similar to thai in Canada and New South Wales.

Mr. Justice Kennedy and Mr. Justice Johnston concurred and Mr. Justice Fair delivered a separate judgment, arriving at the same conclusion, anil expressing the opinion that the law should be recti" tied by legislation.