A CONSTABLES CONVICTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 62, 14 March 1911, Page 3

A CONSTABLES CONVICTION.

APPLICATION FOR RE-HEARING

REFUSED

On Saturday, in the Magistrate's Court, Mr W. G.< Riddell, S.M., gave his reserved decision on the application of Constable Glynii, for the rehearing of the «ase in which he was convicted of an assault on Archibald Black on the- 26th January, and for which he was fined 40s, or in deiaulb seven diayis' imprisonment. The application (states The Post) was based on the grounds: (1) That the "conviction was against the weight of evidence; (2) that the defendant had discovered fresh evidence material to his case, which could1 not have been, with ordinary diligence, discovered prior to the hearing. His Worship said that Section 120 of the justices of the Peace Act, 1908. stated that any Justice before whom an information or complaint has been heard, may, in his discretion, grant a rehearing of such information or complaint upon such terms as to him seems fit. So far as the ground that the conviction was against the weight of evvdence was concerned, the magistrate thought the principles applicable in the Supreme Court should be applied in courts of summary procedure when dealing with applications like the ?>resent one. That being so, the rule aid down' in Papworth v. the Horowheiuna Publishing Company was applicable It was .stated that if the -judge had properly directed the jury, and that the verdict was one which upon the evidence reasonable men could find, then it would not be set aside, even though another jury might have arrived at a different conclusion. On this ground the defendant's application must fail. As to the second ground, his Worship was of opinion that the fresh affidavits of McEnroe, Palmer, and Brown were only corroborative of Black's condition, which was known at the hearing. If the whole of the evidence now produced had been given at the trial, it was doubtful if the decision would have been different. The application was refused No costs were allowed.