The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 2, 1868. SUPREME COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 51, 2 March 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 2, 1868. SUPREME COURT.

Monday, March 2. (Before his Honor Mr Justfce Richmond.) The Autumo sittings of the Supreme Court commenced this morning, at the Provincial Hall, at 10 o'clock, at which hour his Honor Mr Justice Richmond entered the Court, attended by the Sheriff, B. Walmsley, Esq., and tha Resident Magistrate. The names of the Grand Jury having been culled over, the following gentlemen answered to their uames : — C. B. Wither, J. Beif, J. W. Barnicoar, C. Hunter Browu, R. K. Patten, A. J. Richmond, H. H. Stafford, N. Edwards, J. R. Lowe, E. Davidson, H. Davis, F. Selling, VV. K. Turner, H. E. Curtis, W. Wells, H. Baly, H. Goulstoue, F. Huddleston, aud W. C. Hodgson, Esqrs. Mr Barnicoat having stated that he and Mr. Fedor Kelling were two of tho committing magistrates in a case which would be brought before the Grand Ju r y, hi 3 Elinor excused them from serving, and C. B. Wither, Esq., having been chosen foreman, His Honor proceeded to address the Grund Jury, and said that he cougratulated them and the proviuce" on the lightness of the calendar on this occasion. There were only four charges, and these were comparatively light oues, being such as required no sort of commeut from him, and they could therefore discharge the duties that devolved upon them without auy assistance on his part. The lightness of the caleudar was another sign of the general diminution of crime iv the colony, or at all events in this islaud. The Hokitika caleudar was becoming gradually lighter, and this was a result which might be expected, since the great increase in offences was occas ; ont;d by the first rush to the new goldfields, the scum of the earth had been attracted thither at ouce, but the alluvial diggings having been exhausted, this objectionable elemeut in the population had disappeared. The steady mining populatiou was a very pillar of order, for they had a great stake at issne. and, like the old settlers of the colony, felt it their interest to preserve order. It was some satisfaction to contrast the present state of things in the colony with that which existed at home. He did not allude to what was iv every one's mouth — Fenianism — but to the disclosures at Sheffield. The strong sense, however, of the British Parliament was now moviug to remedy the evils both of Feuianism and of these outrages, and, no doubt, they would be no quack remedies, but would be applied to the root of the disease. After saying that the people of this colony might rejoice in their freedom from such evils, a circumstance attributable to the absence of religious differences and class distinctions, which compensated in some degree for its want of past history, his Honor expressed his desire to see the duty of oberiieuce to the law under all ordinary circumstances regarded as a sacred duty. He then contrasted the conditions of other countries not so happily situated in these respects as our own, such as the people of the States of Central America, and eveo the Maoris of the North Island, for, taken man for man, the Maori was equal if uot superior to the Pakeha, since there were very few Maoris who could uot write and spell their own language correctly, and their present unsatisfactory condition he attributed to the want of a traditional sense of law amongst them. The time was gone by when a sharp antithesis existed between the things of Caß3ar aud the things of God, and obedience to the law should be regarded in the light of a sacred obligation. He would now say a word on a small practical matter. In the present fiuaocial state of the colony it was impossible to look to an increase of the stipendiary magistracy? recourse must therefore be had to volunteer magistrates, and great responsibilities were thus imposed oa private gentlemen. A case had lately coma under his notice in

which justice had miscarried through the want of proper care ou the part of the committing magistrates, but fortunately without any serious consequences to them. Still, it showed the necessity of the greatest care in these matters, and his Honor suggested that an atattentive perusaf of the Justices of the Peace Act, instead of the ponderous volumes of Burns' Justices, as of yore, together with the employment of the forms given iv the schedule attached to the Act, would furnish magistrates with every information and facility in adjudicating on civil cases at all events. It would be very desirable that the Government should provide efficient Clerks of the Bench, for it vexed him to see intelligent gentlemen allowed to stumble over forms, and he was satisfied that if the magistrates followed the instructions which are very plainly laid down in the Act as to committals to this Court,, and if they saw that their clerks followed the prescribed forms, justice might be administered safely and easily, and without any fear of miscarriage. His Honor then dismissed the Grand Jury 10 their duties. The Grand Jury having shortly afterwards returned iuto Court with a true bill against Thomas Hickey, that case was at once proceeded with. Thomas Hickey was charged with having at Waimea West, on the 20th of February last, committed an assault with intent, &c. on Frances Marian Floreuce Tomlinsou. A second indictment charged the prisoner with the commission of a common assault. j The prisoner pleaded ' Not guilty ' and j was undefended. The Crown Prosecutor having opened j the case, called Frances Marian Florence Tomlinson, who stated that about 7 o'clock on the evening of Thursday, the 20th of Feb., she was walking home alone on the public road, and when about a quarter of a mile from her father's house, met the prisoner, whom she did not kuow, and had never before seeu. He then turned round, took hold of her, when she toid him to keep his hands off. She then ran about 100 yards towards Mr Bell's, when he caught her again, struck her several times, but never spoke. He then threw her down, and tried to choke her, putting his hand on her mouth aud throat, He then at tempted to commit au indecent assault, but she screamed out ' murder,' aud, after a severe struggle, contrived to get away from him, and ran towards Mr Eden's for. assistance. She afterwards saw Mr Bell, who had been summoned by Eden, aud told him what ha 1 occurred. She next saw the prisoner on Saturday morning, when he had been arrested. William Bell, farmer, of Waimea West, deposited to hearing three distinct cries, as of a woman in distress, aud the last time crying 'Murder.' He. then ran j towards the place as fast as he could, aud j saw the prosecutrix with Frank Eden, she was crying, and said that a man had knocked her down, and abused her ou the road. He asked her how, and she said she could not explain before the two young meh then, present, but she afterwards stated that a mau had attempted to commit a criminal assault. He then went to the spot where the offence hud been committed, and there a part of a parasol was found, aud afterw;irds, he believed, a hat or bonnet belonging to the prosecutrix, who described the man who had committed the assault. The prisoner when asked for his defence, attempted to prove a discrepancy b-tween the evidence given by Mr. Bell, and the depositions taken at the committal, as to the description given by Miss Tomlinsou of the personal appearance of the man who committed the assault, which however was not borne out. His Honor then addressed the Jury, a ter referring to the calm, truthful mauner in which the prosecutrix bad given her evidence, said there were three points to be decided by the jury ; — first, whether the prisoner was the man who had committed the assault ; secondly, was the assault committed with criminal intent, or was it a common assault ; and thirdly, did the prosecutrix use every effort to resist, and was it by her own efforts, and against the prisoner's will, that she escaped ? The jury retired for 40 minutes, and returned into Court with a verdict of 1 Guilty l on the first count. His Honor said that the prisoner had been found guilty of a very grave offence, one which made the country unsafe to

women, and he should inflict the heaviest puuishment upou bum which the law permitted, which would be two years' imprisonment, with hard labors in Nelson Gaol. The Grand Jury having found a true bill against F. H. Witherby, his Houor iutimated that their labors had beea brought to a close, aud discharged them with the thanks of the colony for their services. Catherine Hargreaves was charged with, having, on the 12th of February last, feloniously set fire to a house, the property of Margaret Timbs, situated iv the city of Nelson. The prisoner plea led Not guilty, and was defended by Mr Pitt. The Crown Prosecutor having opened the case, called Robina Rankin, who stated that she lived next door to the prisoner's house, in Armstrong's Lane, leading out to Bridgestreet. Ou the morning in question she saw the prisoner breaking the windows of her house, and she then went inside aud shut the door, having previously said that she had set fire to the house. The witness was standing outside about 10 minutes afterwards, and saw smoke issuing from the bedroom of the prisoner's house. Her father went into the house, a3 soon as he was informed of it. On eross-examiuation by Mr Pitt, the witness said that the prisoner had been breaking windows twice that morning, and was very tipsy. * Emily Armstrong, a child of nine years old, who, on being examined as to the obligation of an oaib, answered promptly and admirably, and indeed gave her evidence throughout iv the most clear aud straightforward manner, deposed to living near the prisoner's house, and to having seen her in her house about 11 o'clock on the morning in question, and heard her say that she would set fire to the house. The prisoner, about 10 minutes after, began breaking the windows, and the witness then looked in at the window and saw her getting off the bed, with a candle and an u alighted match in her hand, and shortly afterwards saw the ceiling of the bedroom on fire in oue corner of the room. Wituess was standing in front of the house, but the blind was torn, and she could see into the room. This wituess was cross-examined at great length by Mr Pitt with a view to prove that she was not uear enough to see iuto the room. William Rankin, father of the first witness, corroborated some of the main features in the evidence already given. He remembered that there was a fire, and that his wife was boiling two eggs sit the time. William Rout, agent for Mrs Timbs, proved the ownership of the house, and the receipt of the rents by Mrs Timbs. Mr Pitt called no witnesses for the defence, aud the Crown Prosecutor, after beating testimony to the able manner in which Emily Armstrong had given her evidence saitl,that there could be no reasonable doubt that the crime had been committed. Mr Pitt submitted that the indictment had heeu improperly worded, the ownership of i he houstj being wrongly described, aud the indictment was ultimately amended. The learned couueii then went on to show that tlie evidence of the child Armstrong, though given with apparent innocence and straightforwardness, was not entitled to credit, aud poiuted out some discrepancies. He concludi-d by pointiug out the absence of auy proof of malicious intent, and suggested that the threat and subsequent firing of the house, had their origin in some domestic quarrel. His Honor then summed up, expressing his belief iv the truthfulness of the evidence «*iven by the two children, and stated that the law gave a large raargiu in the punishment of such offences, according to the intention proved. The jury retired at a quarter to three o'clock, and returned iuto Court in about 20 minutes with a verdict of Guilty, and the prisoner- was sentenced to 12 mouths' imprisonment with hard labor.