“A DIFFICULT PROBLEM”
PRISONER REMANDED FOR SENTENCE.
It is very seldom that a Judge tells a prisoner who has pleaded guilty in the lower Court that if he had pleaded not guilty and‘been properly defended he would have been acquitted, but such was the statement made by Mr, Justice MacGregor in the Supreme Court yesterday when Ralph John Garrett, aged 19, appeared before him on a charge of rape at Taihape. Ou behalf of the prisoner, Mr. W. Perry asked for leniency. Although his client had pleaded guilty, he said, it seemed that if he had not done so the jury would have viewed the matter leniently and acquitted Garrett, who had not had legal advice. His Honour said that the probation officer at Taihape had recommended probation, and he was inclined to agree with it tinder the circumstances. “It seems to me,” said His Honour, “that if this young man had pleaded not guilty be would probably have got off.” The Crown Prosecutor (Mr. P. S. K. Macassey) said that he thought the prisoner should undergo a term of imprisonment. The case in his opinion was far too serious for probation to he granted. His Honour: I don’t think I will sentence this young man this morning. The matter is very difficult. It will have to stand over’for further consideration.
The prisoner was accordingly remanded for sentence. Bail was refused.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19281215.2.140
Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 70, 15 December 1928, Page 30
Word Count
231“A DIFFICULT PROBLEM” Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 70, 15 December 1928, Page 30
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