SUPREME COURT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 197, 15 May 1920, Page 3

SUPREME COURT

FORCED TO COMMIT A CRIME ; GRACE SMITH DISCHARGED : : . Tno oriminal sessions of the Supreme - Court, presided over by His Honour Mr. ■; Justice Herdmari, were continued yester--1 day. Mr. 1 P. B. K;' Jlacassey' appeared for !.' the Crown.' ■./ '■ ; Grace Smith was placed in the dock. , On r the, previous day she 'had ' admitted .that- on eight occasions she • withdrew money from Post Office sav- . ings accounts' by means of. forged withdrawal siips. - The total-amount taken : was JBIIB. ,10s. .The defence—outlined by Mr. K. Kirkcaldie on Thursday—was that accused committed the forgeries ;' under compulsion from her _ husband, who ■ was gazetted as, a military de- ! serter. '• Ths prisoner yesterday stated from the witness box that she was the wife of Robert • George Smith. She was 28 years of age and had never been convicted of an}' crime. She was married in September, 1917, and lived with ■ li !r husband for two or three montlis; Then,her husband was called into camp, After three- weeks in camp, Smith'deserted. After his 'disappearance, witness went to work. She next saw Smith somewhere-abou£ the middlo of November, .1918.- He told lior-lie wanted money,' and she gave him what she had. Ho demanded more, and asked whither tteiM was no .way. of getting-it. _ When witness threatened to give Smith in charge, lie said lie'would break her neck. One day Smith came up to witness's room, and suggested that she operate upon a bank-book which he apparently knew w'as within reach. 'She protested, hut lie threatened her with violence.. She went to the post office with him, and there he showed her how to fill in a withdrawal slip. He went with her to the paying-out clerk, and after she . harl received the took it from her. It-was under compulsion from her husband' that witness ■ ' committed that forgery and all the otheri forgeries with w;hich she was charged.' Smith accoiirpanied her to the'pest office on each occasion. He did-no work, as he was afraid of being -apprehended by the police. ~ Witness. bolieved that his threat l ) of violence were genuine, because she had had experience of his violence. When he.first came from camp on leave, he broke up the furniture she had; and on another occasion he struck her. ' Under ..cross-examination by Mr. Macassey,' witness said that she was the mother of two children. The second child was born in July, 1919. The forgeries 'estWded Over the period from December, 1918, to January 27, 1919. During the whole of that time witness was out" of .work; : In summing up,- His Honour, told the jury/that if they believed hpd told . the .truth they would be entitled to take it that the'defence of coinpulaipn had. been.' established. , , •. The jjraj: returned a , verdict v of ' not guilty.; ' The prisoner was discharged. .' A SEKIOTJS OFFENCE. Fergus John Adams (defended by Mr. p.'W.'"J4ck6otf)' waa charged with attempting to - know carnally and with indecently ' assaulting, a girl under the age of "16 years." ; ' The , Crown evidence was that a constable caught the accused in the act of committing the alleged crime. The girl, it- appeared,-' was mentally deficient. ■ For the defence it was submitted that the "accused had reason to believe and did' believe the girl was 16' years of age. . , Under ..crqss-examittation - by Mr. Macassey. accused admitted that he had been more than once convicted of theft. He-had gone abroad with the forces and h£id contracted ;S' certain disease. He* had pot yet" been discharged. • :'.Th'*;rtry-found the prisoner gruilty on both'i charges. Sentence was deferred. The Court adjourned till Monday morning. , ,