APPEAL AGAINST LIFE SENTENCE IS DISMISSED

Grey River Argus, 29 September 1949, Page 8

APPEAL AGAINST LIFE SENTENCE IS DISMISSED

WELLINGTON, Sept, 28

The Court of Appeal gave judgement in the appeal against his sentence by William Ruha Matthews, of Auckland. The prisoner had been found guilty on July 26 on a charge of manslaughter and was sentenced by Mr Justice Finlay at Auckland to lite imprisonment. It had been contended on behalf of the prisoner that, since the death penalty had now been abolished and a life sentence was the sentence for murder, a sentence less than life should be imposed in cases of manslaughter.

Giving judgment today Mr Just it re Kennedy stated that the only punishments which Parliament had reviewed in 1941 were ' death by hanging, Jogging and whipping, each of which it had abolished as a punishment, but it left the other punishments in the Crim.es Act standing unaffected. This indicated, so the court considered, a repugnance to particular forms of punishment, but did not manifest the intention of the Legislative that all other punishments should be scaled down and that the minimum sentence -'still retained for other offences should never under any circumstances, be imposed. Therefore the Court felt that the maximum sentence, of life imprisonment was appropriate in certain cases of manslaughter. The case before thetCourt was such th.at no case of manslaughter could be worse and the maximum penalty was appropriate in the circumstances. The Court dismissed the appeal.