PRISONERS SENTENCED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 134, 3 December 1910, Page 5

PRISONERS SENTENCED.

CHARGES OF THEFT AND ASSAULT. Several prisoners came before the Supreme Court for sentence to-day. Mr. Justice Chapman occupied the Bench. Mr. H. H. Ostler represented the Crown. ADDICTED TO CRIME. John Adams ' admitted that on 18th November he stole from the Terminus Hotel a gold ring, coral beads and several small sums of money, the property of Annie Sullivan. Prisoner said : At the present moment I am standing between the good life and hell. I want a chance to recover myself. Mr. Ostler stated that in 1903 prisoner had been sentenced to two yeara' • imprisonment at Wanganui for breaking, entering and theft. Two years after•wards, at Auckland, he got two years for a similar offence, and after the lapse of two years he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for theft from a dwelling. Since theu, he had received short terme at Dann«virke and Hastings. His Honour : You seem to be regularly addicted to crime. You require to be taken care of. There is only one way of dealing with cases like yours. Six times you have been convicted of serious crimes. The only thing is to send you to a reformatory prison. You will be sentenced to two yeare* imprisonment, and declared to be an habitual criminal. "A VERY DISREPUTABLE CAREER." On 9th November, at Stratford, James Jones assaulted and robbed William Blair, a man aged 70. Asked if he had anything to say ad to why sentence should not bo passed upon him, prisoner said that he had been drinking heavily, and had been in the D.T.'s. Mr. Ostler said that h« had apparently only '-once been sentenced on an indictment. In Gisborne, in 1907 ? he got twelve months for theft and six months for a similar offence at Dannevirke. There were also other conviction** at liannevirke, Wairoa, Hastings, and Auckland. His Honour : Your record shows that jou nave had a very disreputable career. It may be that if you keep off the drink and stick to work you will deserve the good character your employer has given you. The offence is a very serious one — attacking and robbing an old man 1 ; it was a very cowardly act. It is no answer to say that you were drunk. You have committed a. long serieb of crimes, which seem to indicate that you are inclined to dishonesty, and make no effort to restrain yourself. For this kind of offence, the punishment must be very severe. You are sentenced to three years' imprisonment with hard labour.