LIFE OF CRIME

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1929, Page 2

LIFE OF CRIME

PRISONER’S VITRIOLIC OUTBURST SYDNEY, November 22. When declared an habitual criminal by Judge Curlewis at the Quarter Sessions yesterday, Ernest Connelly, 27, whose criminal record included 19 previous convictions, broke down in the dock and tearfully pleaded for leniency. “Do you realise, your Ijjlonor,” he said, between sobs, “that you are giving me what amounts to a life sen tence?” Judge Curlewis was adamant. “Nothing of the sort,” he replied. Immediately there was an astounding change in Connelly’s demeanour. Shouting excitedly he hurled an insulting epithet at the Judge, with the statement, “I will be out when you are in your grave.” Connelly was charged with having broken and entered the dwellinghouse of Horatio Bonar Murray, at Bellevue Hill, on April 24, and stolen a suit, overcoat, two shirts, and a tie. The accused was arrested owing to the print of one of his fingers being found upon a leadlight which had been broken., In defence, the accused pleaded that he was in bed with a gunshot wound when the robbery was committed.

After a few minutes’ deliberation the jury returned a verdict of guilty. There were nineteen previous convictions recorded against the prisoner, who had appeared under, five aliases, and Constable Boswell stated that he was the most active criminal they had to contend with. He had been shot in the abdomen an Barcom Avenue as the result of an underworld feud.

When asked if he had anything to say, Connelly requested that his mother be led out of the Court, as he did not wish her to hear him being sentenced, and pleaded with tears in his eyes for leniency. His Honor said: “If your grief is genuine, I am sorry for you, but other people have worked to keep you, and I think they would prefer to work for themselves and their children I sentence you to two years’ hard labour, to take effect at the conclusion of the sentence you are serving at present, and I declare you an habitual criminal.”