FINED £20

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 27, 31 July 1924, Page 8

FINED £20

FOR OBSTRUCTING POLICE.

George Arthur Jenness, who was found, by a jury in th e Supreme Court criminal sessions yesterday, to be guilty of wilfully attempting to defeat the ends of justice, appeared for sentence t.ns morning. Tho jury made a strong recommendation to leniency. His Honour stated that the case. Was not one for probation or gaol. The jury had recommended mercy, and he was not inclined to disagree with that. He also took into consideration the fact that the jury had acquitted prisoner on the major charge.- Some form of punishment had to be inflicted, and ho had decided to hne prisoner £20.

Prisoner was represented by, Mr. E. I. Hadfield, who addressed his Honour prior to the sentence being announced. Mr. Hadfield said the offence of obstruction was not a common one, and the charge in this case had been added after the hearing in the lower Court. As counsel, he could not advise Jenness to plead guilty, as this may have seriously prejudiced the case for the' defence in the charge of theft. The class of obstruction to which Jenness had been guilty was the least serious of the various classes. Prisoner . had been guilty of a mistaken, sense of his obligation to the- woman who sold the pendant to him, and had not realised his obligations to the police. His character was excellent, and h e had been in business in the city for 27 years.