FINE OF £25

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 127, 31 May 1935, Page 10

FINE OF £25

MAGISTRATE'S DECISION

When the Court sat this afternoon the Magistrate fined Robinson £25, with costs £17, and the witnesses' expenses, £14 15s 2d.

Kobinson was allowed a week to pay the fine.

"In this case," said Mr. Stilwell, "I have deliberately endeavoured to waive the rules of evidence in order to give the defendant the fullest- opportunity, consistent with the necessity of Keeping the issues within reasonable bounds, of developingl ■ his defence. The allegations used in the offending article are all of a grave nature, containing not only an attack on the Commissioner of Police as a police officer, but containing also a grave allegation striking at the foundations of the ad-' ministration of .justice in this country. With the admission filed immediately before the hearing and as the case has developed, it has become abundantly clear that the in respect of the Commissioner incidentally the Ministers mentioned in evidence, similarly the Hon. Mr. Macmillan andvthe -Hon. Mr. Cobbe,

are absolutely untrue and that there was not the slightest justification for the references in the offending article."

Mr. Stilwell said that an offence of a serious nature had been committed and the penalty must, of course, be' of such a nature as would be an effective deterrent. Taking all relevant circumstances into consideration he thought the ends of justice would be met adequately if the defendant was .convicted and fined £25 and costs on one charge and convicted and discharged on the other.