BURNED CAR CLAIM

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 35, 4 November 1933, Page 13

BURNED CAR CLAIM

Chief Justice Decides QUESTION OF PENALTY After sentence on John Phillips, who had been convicted on a charge of attempting to obtain £lOO from an insurance company by false pretences, had been twice deferred he was ordered by the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) in the Supreme Court yesterday to come up for sentence Jf and when called upon within 18 months. He would have to pay costs amounting to £35. He had carefully considered the case, his Honour said. He had asked yesterday whether, as far as the police could say, the prisoner had anything to do with setting fire to the car or the removal of the parts that were taken away, and the answer had not been unfavourable to him. If it had appeared that he was responsible for either his Honour without hesitation would have passed a sentence of imprisonment. In the circumstances, however, having regard to the fact that, he had been convicted and that he had lost the value of the ear, imprisonment would not be imposed. “As I have said more than once during the present sitting of the Court I regard the conviction as of much more importance than the sentence,” said his Honour. “I have said more than once and I repeat that to my mind in certain classes of cases the knowledge that juries will not hesitate to do their duty, however unpleasant it may be, and the certainty of conviction following where the case is clearly proved constitute a greater deterrent than anything else to other likely offenders.”