HOPE MAINTENANCE CASE

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 17, 14 October 1927, Page 11

HOPE MAINTENANCE CASE

ACCUSED HELD TO BE RIGHT MAN TERM OF IMPRISONMENT IMPOSED Dominion Special Service. 1 Auckland, October 13. Following a very lengthy rehearing, in . which John William Hope, aged 35,' strenuously denied that he was the husband of a woman in Sheffield, England, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., this morning, at the Magistrate’s Court, gave his judgment, and held that accused was the man for whom there had been an order for maintenance in existence since July, 1921. This order was originally fixed at £1 10s. a week, but was varied to £1 ss. on March 3, 1924. Accused, who was arrested in Wellington while on his way to work on August 19, was charged with being in arrears amounting to £l6O to July 5, 1927. The police alleged that Hope was the man they wanted, and when the case last came before Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., at Auckland, on April 22, 1925, they relied upon a photograph sent out by Scotland Yard. Accused vigorously denied that he was the original of the picture. It will be remembered that in 1924 Hope was declared to be the wanted man,, and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

When he was arrested again, in April of 1925, for being in arrears over the alleged order, the case was fought bv Mr." Sullivan on accused’s behalf. Hope was then sentenced to two months’ imprisonment, the - arrant to be suspended provided he paid 255. per week on the order, and 2s. 6d. off the arrears. During the bearing of the case, which was dealt with by Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., the proceedings approached the sensational order, counsel and Magistrate frequently indulging in some sharp exchanges. “Hope gave loner evidence, and gave it in a most unsatisfactory and unconvincing manner,” Mr. Hunt said. “It was very difficult to understand his account of his earlv days.” Mr. Hunt added that Hope had .given evidence of his seafaring life, nut lie said nothing about this when Mr. Poynton dealt with his case. Had he done so, or had he told Chief-Detective Ward when the latter went to see him in gaol, a search of the shipping register in Liverpool, or in the right quarter, could have been made, and his exact whereabouts in 1916, when he was alleged to have been married in Sheffield, could have been ascertained. The Magistrate said that, in his opinion, defendant was the John William Hone named in the order of the Sheffield Court. The photograph was sufficient to prove identity, but he would have come to the same conclusion without a photograph. Mr. Hunt said that Hope would, be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as he kept up the current order, and paid 10s. a week off the arrears. Costs to the amount of £5 ss. were allowed.