SENTENCED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 519, 28 May 1909, Page 8

SENTENCED.

, ' • . AMY BOCK'S CAREER. DECLARED AN HABITUAL CRIMINAL. HER MENTAL CONDITION. iBI TELEa&AIMI—ySBSS ASSOCIATION.) Dunedln, May 27. At tho Supremo Court this afternoon Amy ' Bock, whose adventures caused such a sonsa"tkm recently, camo up for sentence. Nows of her boiug brought up had been kept close by tho officials, and the number of spectators was not great. Sho was dressed in a grey , costume, with a sailor hat tied firmly on her ' head by a white vol], which hid lier wan I cheeks. In a voico that could not send its i sound to his Honour, she said her age was t ■ forty-six years. Thon she bowed her head, i with her faco covered by her hands. Sho 1 looked as ono who did not caro what hap- 1 penod. • ' J The Rogistrar (Mr. Hawkins) addressed tho < ~ prisoner as follows: — " t "You havo pleaded guilty to charges of t forgery, uttoiing, two charges of false pretences, and a charge of making a falßO statement under the Marriage Act, 1908. Havo you anything to say why the sentence of tho 4 ' . Court should not bo passed upon you?" c Mr. W. L. Mooro, who appeared for ac- t * cused, said that before dealing with tho matter { immediately before tho Court, he wished to draw attention to certain facts in connection £ ' with tho case. Accused was arrested on April ] 25, and was brought before the PoEce Court j on April 26 and 27. What ho wished to draw g ' attention to was the' statements published in t the daily press. Many papers in tho Do- e , minion had published statements in regard to c 'tho accused which should "fiot have been pub- j lished until after she was found guilty. 6 His Honour: But sho has pleaded guilty. s Mr. Mooro: But these statements wore 1 jnado before sho pleaded guilty. E His Honour ,asked,what that had to do ] with tho caso at present. . i v, Mr. Mooro: Tho fact that statements had 5 been made has no bearing on the case, but t it has a' bearing on tho question as to i whether it is not contempt of Court to have t published these statements concerning any prisoner. . His Honour said he had' not read any of the publications complained of. If Mr/ j , Mooro thought tho papers had committed j contempt of Court he could tako proceedings , t against them. His Honour added that he rj oould not recall anything in tho E ■" nature complained of. However, he could not deal with that matter now. It might havo been wrong to publish it. Ho did not . know what was 'published, and for tho pre- / ' ' r sent pnrposo it was not necessary that lie i should know. , ' t I • Accused's Past History. r Mr. Mooro went on to deal with accused's } past history as follows:— ; _ 1 ■' "She gives her age as forty-six, and ao- e cused is just able to remember her mother c before her mother was taken away to an ( asylum. Her mother died in a mental hos- i pital in Australia. Prisoner wa3 brought up j in a school in Melbourne, a ladies' boarding school, and, I am instructed, while sho was thore, her father lost a considerable sum of money, necessitating her being brought home ' again. "Hor father was in a good way pre- j vwua to that. When Bho was brought bae> j home; she' immediately began to study for t a teacher, and within a year had got a j i license to teach. Sho would then bo thir-. ' toon or fourteen years of ago. Within a | year or so of beginning to teach, I under- ' stand, she was convicted and discharged for ' ,falso pretences in Australia. After that she ' came to New, Zealand. On several occasions t sho'has been'convicted for falso pretences— < s nine times apparently—and for larceny twice, i and for forgery twioo. All tho offencos have < , been practically of the same kind. She had < *• given tho police considerable troublo to get t her, but after thoy got her .there has neveT i been any trouble. She has pleaded guilty, < except in ono case, a charge of forgery, or which she' maintains she is innocent. >a In i dealing wjth tho caso in which accused 1 forged Mr. Roy's name to a receipt, ooun- 1 eel said that the accused, whilo in town, i mot a woman who know her past, and had 1 , boon kind,to her in tho past, but who, at 1 that particular moment was very hard up. I This woman domanded from her £20, statin* ! that if she did not receive monoy she would j go to Mr. Roy and expose accused's past and i | get hor dismissed. Accused' tried to put her ' off, but was unsuccessful, and committed i forgery, and obtained money under a bill of salo from Mr., Ellis. The evidence on the ' depositions shows that either one or, two , \ days after she received the money she wrote '' ' ' to Mr. Ellis telling him sho had committed a crime, that the receipt was a, forgery, and ~ she intended to meet hm. She did not meot him.' She got afraid that sho would bo run in by tho polico. She did her best to evade the police, and ovading thorn led to other ! crimes." Condition of Her Mind. Mr. Mooro continued that from accused's past there was a possibility, if not a prob- > ability, that she was not responsible for her "actions, and' ho would ask tho Court to havo hor examined by mental exports as ■. to tho condition of her mind, to see if sho was or was not responsible for hor actions. Dr. Do Lautour, who was for many years one of tho examinors in modical juiisprudence, would say that tho facts as disclosed to him mado a prima facie caso that accused was , t not responsible for her actions. His Honour: If 'so, she ought to be sent to an asylum and kept there. ~ Mr. Moore: In ,an asylum she would get proper treatment. His Honour: Aftor the passing of senv tence, sho Will,bo examined medically. If tho result is that she be declared insano sho will bo removed from tho place where she will bo sent, but I am not going to commit her to an rsylnm now. Mr. Moore: If your Honour makes an order that sho will be medically examined by mental exports— ', , His Honour: I don't know whether I will make an order, but I'll suggest .to the Crown that-she should be, Previous Convlotlons, Tho Crown Prosecutor road out a list of ,previous convictions against prisonor, 'which included ono sentenco of three years for false pretences and forgery at Duncdin, and one of throe years at Christchurch, for forgery. Her total sentencos amounted to sixteen years two months. Hor first conviction was at Christchurch, in April, 1886, when she received a month for' falso pretences.'' In 1888, for tho same, offence, sho was sentenced to threo months. There, was then an interval of about Hor, next ' crimo combined l falso pretences and forgery, for which sho was sontonced to three years imprisonment. Fourteen days aftei her release, towards tho end of 1892, sho was sentenced to one month,"' at Tftnaru, for falso pretences, and aftor an interval of five months,~lho received a sentenco of 'six months for larceny, at tho same placo."'Hoi period of freedom, aftor serving this, was about threo months, aftor which, at Oamaruj she recoived four months for falso pretences. In. Septombor, 1895, sho was sentenced to threo months in Duncdin for false pretences. Fivo years out of the noxt soven Bho spent at Magdala Home, but in March, t 1903, sho received two years at Wellington . for, falso protences, and, in February, 1905, was sentenced to threo years at Christchurch; for forgery. The Sentence. His Honour, 'addressing prisonor, who was sobbing, said: "Fortunately tho law provides means for effectively dealing with cases of this kind, and onables persons who are guilty of a serios of offences to bo committed for an indefinite; timo to a reformatory prison. That is tho way in which. I propose to deal with yon. You will bo sentenced to imprisonment for a term of two years, with hard labour, on each charge concurrently, and will also be declared an habitual oriminal. Hit be the j esse that prisoner is mentally deficiont, that can bo ascertained, and Bho can got into an asylum in the proper manner. _ That will ho a -matter for the consideration of tho Government afterwards."