Case called trivial
CN.Z. Press Association) DUNEDIN. There was something wrong with a judicial system that permitted a trivial case to cause expense to the State and to the public, Mr Justice Cooke said in the Dunedin Supreme Court.
He made the comment after sentencing three middle-aged men whom he described as “pathetic rather than dangerous” to a year’s probation on a charge of burglary. William Augustas Leen, aged 47, Leslie Gordon Hodgson, aged 46, and Douglas James Sidon, aged 45, were found guilty by a jury of breaking and entering a vacant house with intent to commit a crime.
“The burglary itself had been petty and stupid, and at the time each of them had been under the influence of, alcohol,” his Honour said. "Although the personal problems of the accused compelled pity, the case was a trivial one." It had put the State to the expense of a two-day trial, and two of the defendants had caused the public, the expense of legal aid.
He released each of the men on a year’s probation with the special condition that they take psychiatric treatment. '
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33493, 26 March 1974, Page 10
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185Case called trivial Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33493, 26 March 1974, Page 10
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