DISTRICT COURT. Tuesday, 23rd May. (Before His Honor Judge Ward.)

North Otago Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1283, 24 May 1876, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT. Tuesday, 23rd May. (Before His Honor Judge Ward.)

His Honor took his seat at 10.10 a.m.

BEGIN!. V. BIOKJSKTON. Mr O'Meagher called as witnesses to character Messrs Stanley Martin, Lewis Morton, and B. L. Rule. Their evidence was only to the effect that they had known prisoner during the time he had been in business in Wansbeck street (about five or six months,), and that during that time they had known nothing against the character of the prisoner. t His Honor, in passing sentence, : said : — Prisoner, I fear the evidence

brought forward by your counsel as to character can avail you but little. Mr Rule is the only witness whose testimony is of the least importance ; and all that he can say is, that you honestly paid for the work done by him during the months he has known you. Considering the rumors affecting you, to which your counsel alluded in the course of the case, it is fortunate for you that no evidence against your character can be brought forward at this time. It is well for you, too, that I cannot, in giving sentence, take into con-/ sideration any private information that' may have casually reached me concerning you. In my opinion a judge, in deciding on the sentence of a criminal, should be guided solely by the facts that have been brought before him in court, and should j especially avoid making private enquiries or obtaining private information about him. Such information as he may obtain is not upon oath. When once a man has been charged with crime he will never want for slanderers, especially if it be known that the judge's ears are open to them. And if a judge is to be guided in sentencing a criminal by what he hears about him beyond the walls of the court, j the criminal may, in fact, be punished on account of charge* of which he may have never heard, and against which he has not had the chance of defending himself. You are convicted of a grave betrayal of trust. You took advantage of the confidence placed in you by the prosecutor, Milne, in order not only to defraud him of the bills of exchange placed in your hands by him, but to render him liable for the full amount for which they were drawn. Such dishonesty deserves a severe punishment. The sentence of the Court upon you is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for 18 calendar months.

BEGINA V. DUNCAN BUCHANAN Duncan Buchanan was indicted for having, on the 18th April, unlawfully and indecently asiaulting . one Ann Campbell ; there was a second count of having unlawfully aisaulted and maltreated the said Ann Campbell. The Crown Prosecutor conducted the prosecution, and Mr O'Meagher appeared for the defence. Accused pleaded " Not guilty. " The following are the names of the jurymen chosen: — Messrs James Bee (foreman), John Dooley, H. Fuller, Gr. L. Longford, Thos. Morris, Lewia Morton, R. M'Auly, Geo. Anderson, Chas. Bentley (senrA John Gifford, Edward Rodgers, and John Cahill. Mr Hislop opened the case for the prosecution, explaining to the jury the particulars of the evidence he intended to call. Da rid Watt having been sworn as interpreter, Ann Campbell deposed that she is the wife of Alexander Campbell, who resides in Oamaru, and further said : — On the 18th April last I was in the hotel of Mr M'Nicol, Oamaru. My husband at that time was at Tapanui. I saw prisoner at M'Nicol's on the 18tb. He was in the kitchen about 5 p.m., when prisoner " shouted" for me, Mrs M'Nicol, and the other servant. Prisoner called me out of the kitchen, and said he wished to see me. I told him to go about his business. I was laying the table for supper, in the dining-room, when prisoner followed me into the dining-room. I ran into the kitchen, and in going there met M'Nicol. Prisoner followed me into the kitchen. [Witness here described the assault complained of.] I called out, and screamed, but prisoner put his hand over my mouth. I felt my breathing getting harder, and a sense of suffocation, and found I could not call out. The servant girl (Lizzie) came round to the outer door of the kitchen. Lizzie went out into the street, and brought a man into the kitchen. The man lifted me off the floor, but I could not stand, the man desired me to stop crying, and after telling me to 'go to bed, put me inside my bedroom door. I went and laid down on the bed, and a while afterwards the same man came. The bedroom was so dark I could not see him. When I heard the man come into the bedroom, I got up off the bed, and went into the kitchen. 1 met Maitland in the passage. He was the man that took me from the kitchen to my bedroom. Before the 18th April I had known prisoner for about ten months. He was living at M'Nicol's at that time. We were not intimate'. Between the time I first met prisoner, and the 18th April, I had not seen him. Under cross-examination by Mr O'Meagher, this -witness stated that in certain of her answers in the Magistrate's Court, she did not know what she was saying. She got confused. The first words she said when she was brought into Court on that occasion were, "I can't speak English." Prisoner never gave her a brooch. Came out from home in the ship Parsee. Knew a man named Norman M'Crickey in that ship. At this stage the Court adjourned for luncheon. On the Court resuming The first witness called was Lizzie M'Caslin, whose evidence was in the main the same as given in the Resident Magistrate's Court, and William Maitland, the next witness, gave corroborative evidence of her statements. This closed the case for the Crown. Mr O'Meagher, having briefly indicated his line of defence, which was mainly that the evidence of the complainant was unreliable, and that she had been guilty of grave irregularities of conduct on board the immigrant ship Parsee, called Mr§ M'Nicol, who deposed, inter alia, that she had seen complainant in the bedroom of the accused, and remonstrated with her as to the impropriety of such a thing, but stated that she did not think there was any thing wrong going on. She also stated, as in the Resident Magistrates' Court, that she was, at the time of the alleged assault, in a little room off the bar, and if there had been any screaming or scuffling she must have heard it, but she heard nothing of the kind. James Buckworth, billiard-marker, deposed that the kitchen was adjoining the billiard-room, that he was in the billiardroom at the time, and if there had been any scream or scuffle he would have heard it. Did not hear any such sounds. William M'Coskey and Patrick M'Coskey, eon and father, passengers with complainant per ship Parsee, swore to grots irregularities on complainant's part after the vessel had anchored, on arrival in the J Colony. These were said to have occurred in the married couples' compartment of the ship, after its occupants had left. John Mackenzie, who acted as interpreter at the enquiry kefore the Magistrates, was called, and examined and cross-examined with reference to his relations with complainant. Mr Filleul, Clerk of the Resident Magistrate's Court, and Mr Steward, one of the sitting Justices, were examined as to the answers given by complainant in the Magistrate's Court.

Mr Hialop then stated that he would have to aak for an adjournment, as he wished to produce rebutting evidence as to the irregularities in complainant'* conduct, sworn to as having occurred on board the Parsee. Mr O'Meagher, in that case, would not close the case for the defence, as he had much stronger' evidence to bring forward. His Honor asked how many more witnesses remained to be examined. Mr Hislop stated that there were three for the prosecution ; and Mr O'Meagher two or more for the defence. Under these circumstances, His Honor put it to the juro ' as to whether an adjournment would be advisable. By mutual consent, the further hearing was then adjourned until Thursday (tomorrow).