SUPREME COURT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8603, 9 June 1908, Page 5

SUPREME COURT.

The local Supreme Court sittings opened to-day before his Honour, Judge Cooper. The following Grand Jury was empanelled :—-M. A. Elliot (foreman), C. H. Pickering, H. Coles. T. R. Hodder, L. Simmons, St. Clair Jounneaux, G. A. Tattle, A. Turner, 0. Monrad, R, Davis, L. G. West, C. T. Keeble, F. W r . Sevvell, H. M. Simmonds, T. Bastin, A. E Clausen, S. R. Lancaster, A. H. Porritt, J. Best, A. Harris, H. Mowlem, F. S. Goldingham, F. J. Nathan. HIS HONOUR'S CHARGE. His Honour said he was glad the business before the Grand Jury was of a very light nature. In reference to the charge of assault against Pilkinton .that would present no difficulty. ' The charge of perjury against one McCurdy, arose out of evidence given in regard to the number of sacks of chaff in his stable at the time of a lire. The other case was one in which there was considerable conflict in the evidence in regard to the time of the offence was committed. But notwithstanding, tho evidence of the girl was sufficient to justify the Grand Jury in bringing in a true bill. His Honour congratulated the district on the comparative absence of crime. Ho had just come from Wanganui ,where he had had a long list of civil business, but no criminal cases, and it was very refreshing to travel the circuit, and find a comparative absence of crime. TRUE BILLS. A true bill was found in the case of Rex v. Pilkinton. ALLEGED ASSAULT. In the case against Edward Pilkinton, accused pleaded not guilty. The following jury was empanelled:— E. G. Tucker (foreman), C. Gascoigne, H.. A. Morgan, N. Malcolm, W. Frew, T. C. Birkenshaw, A. Sutherland, N. A. Torstonsen, J. A. Ritchie, J. Morrison, C. J. Cohr, J. S wen son. Mr. C. A. Loughnan, Crown Prosecutor, opened the case, and detailed the circumstances of the case. He then called

Thomas Smythc, a painter, residing in Pahiatna, who said that accused lived in the same house vvi'th him, but not in the same room. On Saturday, May 16th, 1908, after ho had retired to his room, the accused came in, and after accusing him of being a defamer of women, got his knuckles into witnesses's throat. Accused struck him two or three times and then dragged him out of bed. A man named Black came in and separated the pair. Otherwise, sair witness, he would not have been there to tell tho story. Witness had a

grip of accused's left leg. Witness stayed in bed all next morning (Sunday). He saw the doctor on Monday. Cross-examined: He was not drunk at the time. He had had some beer that night. He was a prohibited person. If anyone was to swear that he was under the influence of liquor and that he had twtt bottles of beor on the night in question, he would say that one was a perverter of the truth. Accused may have had a grievance against witness because he imagined he had said things about his prospective mother-in-law. x

William Todd, medical practitioner in charge of the Pahiatua Hospital, said he was called to examine complainant., and found he had ono rib fractured, his eyes blacked, and his ears cut. When he examined Smythe tliere were no signs of drink on him. Cross-examined : There was nothing to indicate how the rib was broke. He had never seen, but had read, of a man breaking another's rib by punching him. Elizabeth Ja no Watson, proprietress of the Victoria boarding house, Pahiatua, said complainant and accused boarded with her. She never saw Smythe from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning. Accused told her on Saturday night that Smythe had been slandering her, and he was going to make him apologise. Sometime after she heard scuffling in the room where Smythe was, and sent Black into the room. James Black, another boarder, said he arrived home about 10.30. He heard a scuffle and going up stairs saw two men fall into the pasage out of Smytho's rooms. It appeared as though accused was putting Smythe out. They then fell into the room again, and he separated them. He considered both were drunk. Arthur Toy, another boarder, went to bed between 10 and 10.30. Smythe wasn't asleep at the time. He heard a noise in the room, and about ten minutes late heard Smythe complaining about broken ribs. Witness was drunk at the time. This closed the case for the prosecution. Mr. Harold Smith, for the accused, after reviewing the evidence for tho

Crown, called James Cosford, another boarder, who saw Smvthe that- evening about

seven o'clock. He was muddled, then, and at about eight he was a little worse. He had a bottle and a half of beer in his possession. _ Cross-examined: Witness admitted he was also a prohibited person. He didn't remember even seeing Smythe properly sober. James Stevenson, still another boarder, also say Smythe on the evening in question. When he went out he was half drunk. When he came back he had two bottles of beer, and was drunk. Edward Pilkinton, accused, deposed that he went into Smythe's room, and wanted to know what he had been saying about his prospective mother-in-law. Smythe called him a liar, and he returned the compliment. Then Smythe made a hit at

him, and ho parried it, and caught Rinvtho with his left on the face. Both then struggled for a while, pulling over the bed in the scuffle. After a while thev were separated. Cross-examined: Ho admitted being previously convicted for assault. Accused was found guilty of common assault, but was acquitted of the charge of causing actual bodily harm.