PRISONERS SENTENCED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 137, 11 June 1940, Page 9

PRISONERS SENTENCED

MOTORING OFFENCE

YOUTHS SENT TO BORSTAL

Prisoners were sentenced by his. Honour the Chief Justice, Sir Michael' Myers, in the Supreme Court this morning.

For failing to stop after an accident, Matthew James McArdle was fined £5, and he was prevented from obtaining a driving licence for two months. McArdle had previously pleaded not guilty to this charge, but was given permission to alter v his plea to guilty.

On his behalf, Mr. Evans-Scott said the car involved belonged to the prisoner, and was being driven by another man, named Perry. The driver had no licence and was driving with McArdle's consent. The driver had recently been convicted ana ordered to pay the costs of the action, and this fact had induced the prisoner to change his plea to guilty. The accused was not teaching Perry to drive, as Perry was used to driving a car.

His Honour considered that the accused, as the owner of the car, was culpable because he had consented to Perry driving his car without a licence.

Mr. Evans-Scott said.the prisoner had' done nothing to influence the driver in his decision not to stop, and the matter was reported to the police almost immediately.

In reply to his Honour, Mr. EvansScott said the accused did not rely upon driving the car for his livelihood.

In ordering McArdle to pay a fine of £5 and costs and preventing him from obtaining a. driving_lic'ence tor two months, his Honour reminded the prisoner that although this was not a serious offence of its kind, the law governing the conduct of motorists was made to be obeyed and. must not be, flouted, "and that all offences of this kind must be regarded seriously. The penalty in this case would have.been considerably greater if the consequences of the accident ha\l been more serious, and if it had not been reported to the police within, ay short time. YOUTHS SENTENCED. Two youths, Noel Russell Bretherton and Richard .Stevens, having been. found guilty on three charges of breaking, entering, and theft, were sentenced to two years' detention in the Borstal institution. His Honour pointed out to the boys that it was clear that they required a period of discipline. "There is *much better and nobler work to be done in the service of the country in these times," he said, "than following the line of conduct to which you two have apparently become accustomed." PERIOD OF GAOL. . Alexander Kyle, on five charges of indecent assault on females, four at Auckland and one at Wellington, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with hard labour, to be followed by two and a half years' reformative detention. The prisoner, for whom Mr. R. Hardie Boys appeared, was warned by his Honour that if he appeared before him again he would be declared a habitual criminal.