PRISONERS SENTENCED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 98, 25 April 1908, Page 5

PRISONERS SENTENCED.

Mr. Justice Chapman held a sitting of the Supreme Court this morning, to sentence several prisoners who had entsred pleas of guilty in the lower courts. The first prisbner put forward was Wm. Larrabee, for having committed incest at Tailuipe. Mr. Wilford, for the accused, said he did not wish _to say oils word in extenuation or mitignt: ..i of tho offence. He had, however, been instructed by several residents of Taihape to ask the court whether it would not bai advisable to have the prisoner exam mod by two medical men as to his mental condition. His Honour said as yet there was no suggestion of insanity. He would postpone sentence until Monday week. If Mr. Wilford recurved moro definite information from tho country ho could file affidavits in respect of it. His Honour would not order a medical examination, but in the meantime he would expect the gaol surgeon to see the prisoner and form some opinion oE his mental condition. ■> Mr. Wilford expressed the opinion that the matter was one for experts on the mind. His Honour said ho was an inspector of asylums for fifteen years, and he knew to what extent the hospital might be relied upon to speak as to a patient's condition. PROBATION. "Passing off forged cheques is becoming extremely common ; that particular crime seems to be on tho increase," said his Honour, in passing sentence on a young married man named John Edward Moody. Tha prisoner, it seems, had forged and uttered a cheque at Hastings. Mr. Myers, for the Crown, explained that the police report showed that until Moody committed this offence, nothing was knov.'n against him. His Honour said ho must look at accused's offence as an isolated one committed by a man otherwise 1 of good character. He would be admitted to two years' probation, and < ordered to pay £5 towards the cost of prosecution. The prisoner was represented by Mr. Wilford. TWO YEARS' IMPRISONMENT. Druniienness was a plea put forward by Geo. Groves, alias Williams, in eStenuatrion of forgery and uttering v cheque at Masterton. His Honour said that drunkenness was uo excuse, because the prisoner had sufficient possession of his faculties at the time to utter the cheque. His record was a bad one ; he already had fiyo previous convictions, and he was getting near the point when he might be treated as an habitual criminal. A sentence o* two yoars' imprisonment was passed, and the money found on the prisoner was prdered to be restored to the party whom he had defrauded. A LIFE'S OPPORTUNITY. Some weeks ago two men went into a barmaid's bedroom at the Palace Hotel. Subsequently they made a bolt ; one man, John M'Cormack, took a wrong turning, and was caught; the other escaped. M'Cormack was put forward for sentence this morning for breaking and entering and theft of a ring valued at £2 1357 His Honour observed that the probation officer's report was unfavourable as \.o the prisoner's character and associations, but it was not such as to oblige the court to refuse probation. He was disposed, in accused's interest and in the interests of others, to give him a chance by admitting him to three years' probation. His Honour advised ' the prisoner to work steadily, and reminded him that this was the opportunity of his life. The prisoner was represented by Mr. Neave.