COURT NEWS

Grey River Argus, 17 September 1937, Page 11

COURT NEWS

OPIUM SMUGGLER. TO “DO” THREE MONTHS. [Per Press Association], AUCKLAND, September 15. ■Shortly after the Wanganella arrived yesterday, Customs officials searched the cabin of a passenger from Sydney, and later Detective Brady arrested a well-dressed young man. To-day, Leonard Thomas Thorpe a seaman, of North Sydney, pleaded guilty to a charge of importing into New Zealand six tins of prepared opium. , The Collector of Customs said that the opium, which was valued at 30s a tin, was found in the rafters of the cabin and in a lifebelt. Thorpe admitted that he had brought the opium and said it was intended for Chinese. The maximum penalty was £5OO or 12 months’ imprisonment. The Magistrate (Mr W. R. McKean, S.M.): You knew the risk you were taking? Thorpe: I think so. Yes. Thorpe, who elected to be dealt with summarily, was fined the minimum penalty of £125 or three months imprisonment. The Magistrate: Are you able to pay the fine? Thorpe: No, sir. The police said that, Thorpe had £5 in his possession when arrested.

Assault Charge WITNESSES ACCUSED OF LYING. WELLINGTON, September 15. Before Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., five young men were jointly charged on two counts with assault so as to cause actual bodily harm to Noel Percival Richards and George Richards. Accused were Samuel John Barrett, u motor mechanic, aged . 22; Allan George Eagle, a timber worker, aged 22; John Ralph Cairncross, a glassbeveller, aged 21; Edward Ernest Aitken, a timber workei, aged 20, and Neville Edward Gandy, a labourer aged 22. The charges arose from a fight alleged to have taken place in a house in Stepney Place on the night of September 4. The Magistrate dismissed the case, but commented as follows: “It is obvious, of course, to any listener with the slightest degree of intelligence, that the two principal witnesses for the Crown have gone back on the information supplied, and have deliberately told untruths in the witness box. As for the third witness, she told a few truths, but has concealed a great part of what she knows to be true. The two principal witnesses have suffered at the hands of third parties, and are not. prepared to tell the truth. The Court, therefore, is very much inclined to let them continue to suffer Nevertheless, had the other evidence been strong enough, 1 would have committed the accused for trial. It was not sufficiently strong, however, although there is very little moral doubt in my mind as to their guilt, or the guilt of some of them, and they were all together. Counsel, of course, would have argued that thev were not all concerned, but I would have held that they were. What I want to say to the principal witnesses is that in my opinion they deserve all they got, and if they’ are likely to come before the Court again either as witnesses or defendants, it. will be very hard to convince the Court that they are telling the truth. I hope they’ leave the Court with a proper sense of how ashamed they ought to be of having gone into the witness box and lied as they have done. It is very seldom, fortunately, that one gets young men, presumably born in New Zealand, who so disgrace themselves, and I hope their sense of disgrace will remain with them to the end of their days. The accused are discharged.” “If your Worship had not made these remarks, it was my intention Io ask you to read the statements made to the police by the two principal witnesses to satisfy you we were justified in taking action,” said Detec-tive-Sergeant P. Doyle, who prosecuted. , ~ The Magistrate: “You needn t worry about that. I know the police do not take action without substantial reason.”

WELLINGTON SENTENCES. WELLINGTON, September 16. Prisoners sentenced to-day by Mr Justice Smith were:— Peter McNicol, 24, baker and labourer, breaking, entering and theft (nineteen charges), breaking and entering with intent (five charges), attempted breaking and entering (one charge), three years’ hard labour. Frederick Walter McLennan, 33, motor mechanic, obtaining goods valued at £BO 12s Id, by false pretences, two years’ hard labour. Thomas Joseph Kane, 28.- clerk, twelve charges of obtaining the execution of a valuable security, and one of theft, two. years’ reformative detention. George Norman Farmsworth, 23. labourer and salesman, lilse pretences, two years’ reformative detention. Edwin Luce, 57, dairy farmer, incest, one year’s hard labour. Henry Allan, 39, salesman, theft, one year’s reformative detention.

TRUCK DRIVER GAOLED. WELLINGTON, September 16. Williarfi Albert John Gray Kempton, driver of a truck that collided with a Carterton-Masterton bus and failed to stop, was sentenced to three months’ hard labour, by Mr Justice Smith in the Supreme Court. His Honour said he could not accept the view that prisoner thought he had struck a watertable. The blow' must have been severe, and it was a matter of good fortune that the persons in the bus were not seriously injured. The Judge added that he had come to the conclusion the statute had been directly enacted to assist in preserving the safety of travellers on the highway, and in his judgment, it had to be enforced, and the only way it could be enforced was by imprisonment. RADLEY CASE. AUCKLAND, September 15. Evidence in the case in which the Solicitor-General intervened to oppose a decree nisi in divorce being made absolute was concluded before Mr Justice Callan in the Supreme Court to-day. His Honour reserved decision. The petitioner was Geoffrey Squire Radley, fruit and produce merchant,

of Christchurch, and the respondent. Dorothy Whaley’ Radley. NURSE v. DOCTOR. CLAIM FOR POSSESSION OF MATERNITY HOSPITAL. WELLINGTON, September 15. The Court of Appeal to-day heard an appeal brought by Ethel Bethune, of Takaka, a nurse, against Edward Coventry Bydder, of Takaka, medical practitioner, in an action for possession of premises in Takaka owned by Bydder and used by’ Bethune as a maternity hospital. Proceedings seeking possession of these premises were originally taken in the Magistrate’s Court, but the Magistrate held that the premises were not governed by the Fair Rents Act. 1936, and it was not open to him to make the order sought. In an action for ejectment in the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) held that the Fair Rents Act did not apply, and an order was made for possession. The appeal to-day was brought on the ground that the judgment of the Chief Justice was erroneous in fact arid law. After long argument had been heard, the case was adjourned until to-morrow morning.

AMERICAN;® SUIT. TO ANNUL PERUVIAN MARRIAGE. WASHINGTON, September 14. Lewis Clarkson, a former American businessman in Peru, has asked the local Court to annul his marriage with a Peruvian woman (Senora Mercedes Delaquitana), on the ground of his being compelled to assent to the wedding by the former President, Senor Leguia, her lover. Clarkson’s brief alleges that an armed guard escorted him to the church. Revolvers were pressed against his back, and threats of “accidental” death were whispered in his ear. Clarkson averred that his previous relations with Senora Mercedes Delaquitana, the woman in question, were wholly innocent, and that the relation after their marirage was wholly platonic, and yet she had several children, whivh Senor Leguia compelled Clarkson to register as his own. Leguia was subsequently deposed by a revolution, dying in prison, after which Clarkson was permitted to leave Peru. The sudden reappearance of Senora Mercedes, who in the interval was also reported dead, prompted Clarkson's annulment suit.