SENTENCED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 262, 6 November 1939, Page 6

SENTENCED.

THREE PRISONERS.

NEGLIGENT DRIVING.

SHOWMAN TO PAY FINE.

QUEEN'S ARCADE BURGLARY.

Three prisoners were sentenced in the Supreme Court to-day, two by Mr. Justice Fair and one by Mr. Justice Callan.

A strong plea to the Court not to send the prisoner to gaol was made by Mr. A. K. Turner, counsel for Frank Brooks, showman, aged 56, who had been found guilty by a jury last week of negligent driving so as to cause the death of Patrick Daley, a roadman. Daley was knocked down and killed by a truck driven by Brooks on Pillbrow's Hill, near Waipu, on July 3.

Mr. Turner said the prisoner had undergone two trials. At the first trial the jury failed to agree and at the second, after more than five hours' deliberation, had brought in a verdict of guilty with a strong recommendation to mercy. The usually associated with bad cases of negligent driving were absent in the present case, and there was no suggestion that the prisoner had had liquor or shown callousness in his driving.

Mr. Justice i'allan said tliat at 110 time rluring the two trials liart there been the slightest hint of liquor against till! prisoner, and (lie probation oflicer's report was that lii'ooks was a mail of temperate habits. The circumstances in no wav suggested (hat lie was the type of road-hog, chiving with a callous and deliberate disregard of other users of the road. Of the two factors, failing to keep a proper look-out and driving with defective brakes, tlie latter was the graver. His Honor said lie was not satisfied there was anything at all gross in the degree of negligence of which the prisoner was guilty, and therefore would not send him to gaol. The prisoner was fined £50 and disqualified from holding a driver's license for five years. Throe months were allowed in which to pay the fine. A BAD RECORD. On behalf of Arthur DoinLnic Plunkett. found guilty last week of receiving a £6 note knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained. Mr. T. Henry said the prisoner had previous convictions, but for some time past had been trying to rehabilitate himself. However, lie suffered from the disability of the loss of an arm which made it difficult for him to obtain employment. Mr. Justice Fair said the jirisoner had a very bad record. On August 4 last he had been released on license and the present offence had been committed on September 25). He had been receiving sustenance—not very much, but enough to live on if he denied himself some things, but this he had not done. His Honor ]>assed sentence of nine months' imprisonment. KINDNESS WASTED. Remarking that the prisoner had been given every chance and assistance in the past, which he had not appreciated, Mr. Justice Fair sentenced Allan Farquhar Young, aged 19, to 12 months' reformative detention, to be cumulative upon the sentence he is at present serving. The prisoner had pleaded guilty to breaking and entering and theft at Hutchinson's jewellery shop in Queen's Arcade. Mr. T. Henry, for the prisoner, said Young had had an unfortunate life in his 3'outh and had been thrown upon the world at a stage when he had not matured sufficiently to overcome temptations which came in his way. His Honor said it was impossible to admit the prisoner to probation in view of his record of serious crime. It seemed that kindness was wasted upon him.