CRIMINAL TRIALS. SUPREME COURT SESSION OPENED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 107, 6 May 1912, Page 8

CRIMINAL TRIALS. SUPREME COURT SESSION OPENED.

- yERX LIGHT CALENDAR. I ' ,~Mr. Justice' Chapman presided over I the criminal sessions of the Supreme "Court which opened to-day. GRAND JURY. following Grand Jury was em.panellecl : — Messrs. John Mallard (foreman), Frederick Selaich, Geo. Nathan, "Alfred Ernest Odlin, James ,Bennie, -.Alfred James Bennett, 'Arthur 'Samuel '(!h,apman, Clark Johnston, Sydney Bernard Shortt, William Crichton, Charles James Lockwood, Henry Vincent Brew«r* James Wilson Wallace, James . _M'Gill. Lewis Whitcombe, Arthur New- . ibold, George Campbell Clark, Herbert John Sydney SwAn, Henry D. ,£,Clementson, and Walter John Blundell. " HIS HONOUR'S CHARGE. -In the course of hk charge to the '-"Grand Jury, his Honour said: — "I am "pleased to be able to say that your ;s&ties to-day will be very light.' ffhe ctslfinidar is the shortest that it has been ."■ay experience to investigate here, and Bone of the cases aT© Buch as will occupy your attention for Very long 1 . There are altogether only six cases, one of which 3»&s already been before a Grand Jury. ;I don't think you will havo any difficulty in regard to any of these cases. , " ' "There is, however, one caee to which '■*I must call your especial attention. That lis a charge against Robert _ Bagge of ■j&tißaliaig a horse and cart. This man has been committed' for trial by Justices at IMasterton. As I read the evidence, no -edse is made out far his committal. Tt "wll be your duty to say whether there •i» a prima facie case of stealing. Accordjng to the evidence, the prosecutor- saya ;-h«e sold, -the man the horse and cart. His j •grievance apparently is that he did not 'jfeeivouhis money. At the worst, that is -of a man running ) away without -paying 1 his debt. There may be circum-stances-not brought before the court, as (there seem to have been some cross'd&dings. .There was no document relat.irfg to- the riale, which took place in 1903. "I ' don't know when the warrant was issued, but apparently tho information •'.iska. recenfcMHie. It 'looks as if nothing ;j»re donef in eight and .a half years. (Whether «-h© was .in the district <in the . Tnieantime'Or not Ido not know. If the e^idfiHce<i^as I indicate, you will see *that- nib-case of stealing is made out. ', '"'As for '*tbe- other cases," his Honour ' continued, ' 'there are two of a. very shocking character. One of them is a diarge of* assaxdfc on<-a young girl, and another -of assault on a boy. I need not go ittfco ihe evidence of those cases. It •is "-very'simple so far as your duties are f concerned." Other • cases "Vere Tefened to by his /'(JSanovr. 'TRUE BILLS. ■ . \ThG*G&&nd Jury returned true "bills vJn^Sthe- -following cases : — James Purcell ■O*BJrien, indecent assault on male? Ar•fchnr' Joseph Wicks, indecent aseatilt; Tbomas Henderson, alias Busbridge, « alias James Patrick, alias Fitzpatrick, opening postal packets (nine charges) ; ' George Effis Allen, abas Richardson, forgery and 1 uttering ; and James Henry • Hope^ttnlawfully selling liquor. v NO BILL. In 1 ? th«*diarge of theft against Robert I Bagge, iia Grand Jury, returned no . INDECENCY. 'An* elderly, white-haired man named 1 James Eurcell O'Brien pleaded not -guilty to- charges of indecent assault, and, alternatively, common assault, on ■a boy aged tec years near Te Aro Rail-,-way Sferfaon on 27tfr March last. Mr. H. H. Ostler appeared for the "Crown, prisoner being unrepresented by counsel. His Honour ordered the Court to be cleared during the hearing of the case. The jury brought in a verdict of •igufifcy of common assault. Prisoner "was remanded for sentence. WAS LIQUOR SOLD? """ The case against Jamee Henry Hope, -a middle-aged man, charged with, having illegally sold liquor to a police probationer. . on 31&t, March, last, i& proceeding.,