SWORDS CROSSED

Evening Star, Issue 23100, 28 October 1938, Page 12

SWORDS CROSSED

JUDGE AND COUNSEL POSTPONEMENT OF SENTENCE REFUSED WEEPING WOMAN IN DOCK [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, October . 28. Three i'oars' hard labour was imposed by Mr Justice Quilliam in the Supreme Court to-day on Marjorie Pickering (42), who was found guilty by the jury on two charges of unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage. Mr Ongley, for the prisoner, suggested that sentence should be postponed until the judge had had an opportunity of considering the application Mr Ongley wished to make concerning the judge’s directions to the jury. Mr Justice Quilliam: I can see nothing wrong with my summing-up to the jury. Mr Ongley said if the prisoner were sentenced and if the matter went to the Court of Appeal she might serve seven or eight months and then bo found not guilty. There was a very good reason why the courts of justice should be jealous of the liberties of the people. There was a spirit rampant in the world to-day that the people had no rights. Mr Justice Quilliam: It is to preserve those rights that sentences are inflicted. .

Mr Ongley asked the court, as a British court, to be absolutely jealous of the interests of the people. Mr Justice Quilliam: The court is quite competent to look after that. Mr Ongley outlined the nature of the submissions he wished to make regarding directions to the jury at the trial, and also suggested that the judge should say what was the meaning of the verdict. There were two charges against the prisoner, and the jury had returned one verdict of guilty. Did that mean guilty of only one charge? And, if so, which? Or did it mean guilty of both? Mr Justice Quilliam said he was satisfied with the perfect regularity of the trial. The application to postpone sentence would be dismissed. Mr Ongley, addressing the court on the matter of sentence, said the prisoner had the support and upbringing of a family cast upon her for a long time, and apparently she had done it well. She was not the instigator of the offences, but had been sought by other people. ; Mr Justice Quilliam: How did they know where to find her? Mr Ongley: I am not aware how they knew, but there was no suggestion that she approached these people in any way. Mr Justice Quilliam: She will be sentenced only for the crime she committed.

When counsel went on to say that the jury and the public took the view that the people who instigated such a crime were not free from blame, Mr Justice Quilliam said he should address that cgmplaint to the Legislature, not to him.

When sentence was imposed, accused cried out: “What about my children? ” and was assisted weeping from the dock.