PROBATION BREACHES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 194, 18 May 1928, Page 16

PROBATION BREACHES

TWO MEN BEFORE SUPREME

COURT

THE TERMS EXTENDED

. Two young- men —Clarence Raymond McKay and Claude Capron—who had committed breaches of their terms of probation came before Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court yesterday morning. On behalf of McKay, Mr. W. Dunkley said that 'some two years ago at Hastings McKay had been admitted to probation on a charge of stealing a . syringe from a chemist and used by accused in connection with the taking of drugs. . A condition of his probation was that he remained in the country and abstained from drugs. A few weeks ago, McKay had come to the city, and his appearance in court that day was the outcome of his unfortunate habit of taking drugs. Counsel said- that accused had a wife and two children, and up to the time of his latest lapse his conduct had been exemplary. Counsel suggested that accused be admitted to a further term of probation. The Crown Prosecutor. Mr. P. S. K. Macassey, offered no objection. Accused, he said, had been medically examined, and this examination showed that the drugs had not got into his system to such an extent that it would prevent him from working. ■ His Honour admitted McKay to a further' term of probation for two years, conditional on his paying the costs of the prosecution, abstained from taking- drugs, and living in the country. From the dock, McKay asked His Honour what would be the radius from any town' he would be bound; to under the terms Of his probation order. He pointed Out that he had a position to go to within four to five miles of Hastings. _ His-Honour ■ said he would' leave this matter' to, be arranged and decided by the probation officers in Hastings and Wellington. . ...

Falling to Report,

Claude Capron, an English public school , boy, brought out under the immigration scheme, was charged with a breach of his probation order by failing i to report to the probation officer at Hastings. Accused was not represented by ' counsel, but Mr. K. H. Boys, on his behalf, said that Capron seemed unable to reconcile himself to life in the Dominion, and was anxious to get back to the Old Country ' Accused’s present term of probation was extended by four months, on the usual statutory conditions. He was also ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution —two guineas.