SUPREME COURT, LYTTELTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 559, 13 March 1858, Page 4

SUPREME COURT, LYTTELTON.

Wednesday, March 10. larceny. : The case which occupied the Court to-day was an action brought against one Goorden,, a native of India, by Wuzeera another Indian, for a robbery of some money from the house of the latter on the 27th September last. Both were servants of Mr. Wilson, of Cashmere. Both parties being ignorant of the English language, Mr. P. Ashton acted as interpreter, and the witnesses Wuzeera and his wife were sworn upon the Koran (English translation) and repeated the Mahometan formula and genuflexions of a solemn oath. The case as stated by Wuzeera and his wife Mindia was as follows:— In the morning before day-break the wife was awakened by Goordeeri tugging at her necklace, and called out; Wuzeera jumped up, seized the prisoner, and tied his hands and arms. In so doing he found upon the prisoner a purse which he recognised as his property, and which he found to be missing from the chest where he had put it. In the morning Wuzeera marched Goordeen off to Lyttelton and brought him up before the Magistrate's Court. on a, charge of larceny. These were the only witnesses for the prosecution, and it was apparent on cross-ex-amination that their statements did not tally as to all the circumstances of the case. For the defence, the statement of the prisoner was that he had gone to Wuzeera's house for a light and woke the wife to ask permission to=take some fire; and that the charge of theft was entirely false. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Irvine, Mr. Wilson's overseer, were called on the side of the prisoner, and their account of certain circumstances differed widely from that of the prosecutor. The impression of these witnesses evidently was that the charge was trumped up, arid was owing to a grudge on account of some previous disagreements. The judge charged strongly in favour of the prisoner, and the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty. Mr. Dampier was counsel for the prisoner. Thursday, March 11. ASSAULT WITH INTENT. Mark Turner was placed at the bar on a charge of committing an assault with intent &c, upon a girl named Caroline Hancock, of the age of ten years and a half. The evidence was unfit for publication in our columns* The case occupied the whole of the day, and the prisoner was found Guilty. Mr. Dampier was counsel for the defence. Friday, March 12. . The Court sat for an hour this morning to pass sentence upon Ronnage, Smith, and Turner, who had been found guilty on the previous days. Alfred Ronnage, for escape, received twelve months' imprisonment j and for robbery (one case out of four, the rest hot being proceeded with), to two years' imprisonment: in all, three years with hard labour. Charles Thomas Smith, in* the same cases as Ronnage,' for escape, having pleaded guilty, six months' imprisonment; for robbery, two years' imprisonment: in all, two years and a half with hard labour. Mark Turner, for assault .with intent, two years' imprisonment with hard labour. : This completed the business of the sittings, and the Court rose. .