AUCKLAND SUPREME COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12203, 24 February 1903, Page 7

AUCKLAND SUPREME COURT.

THE criminal sessions, 0 f the Supreme Court were concluded yp/sterday before Mr. Jugtico Conolly. Th» lion. J. A. Tole, Crown Prosecutor), conducted the prosecutions.

ACQUITTED.

'A middle-aged man named Robert Connor Was ohaxgod with indecently assaulting a little girl of six tears of ago, at Devonport, cms. January 8. Mr. John Alexander appeared tor the accused, who pleaded not, guilty. in support of the eha?g« was given |by the child, by a married half-sister, and a liaJC-brothe*. Tho aatatut was stated to have b*en committed tin the football ground at Dovonport, and tho witnesses stated that on tb&> girl returning home she informed hfr toother and sister that the accused H'A'd cbmtaii'cted the offence. Before thft p&hce' evi\Jenco was called His Honor **.<a that the evidence did not seem strong enough to convict upon. Mr. Tolo said that in that case he would not proceed any further with the case. His Honor briefly addressed the jury, but on the latter intimating a dosiro to retire, Hi 3 Honor said that if they had any doubt at all ho would ask Mr. Tola to call further evidence. Constable. Miller, of Devonport, who was then called, stated that when ha went to ice the accused on the day aftei tho alleged offence, ho (accused) said, " Oh, you are tho wan I want to see." Accused referred to the tharge made against him, and said he wished *to have it cleared up. Accused went with witness to the mother of the girl, and there denied having committed tho assault. On being arrested four days later, accused said, "I did not do it, and can bring witnesses to prove it." Accused appeared to have been drinking when witness saw him on January 9. No ovidenco was called for the defence. Tho jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of not guilty, and tho prisoner was discharged.

DEFERRED SENTENCES. SOME SEVERE PUNISHMENTS. 'STRONG REMARKS FROM THE BENCH. The .following sentences were passed by His Honor on prisoners who had been convicted during the sessions, and in respect to whom JrentemtfS had been deferred :-rTHE VVAIin CASK. j William Bi'ighting, a survivor of the wreck of the Elingamite, who had been found guilty of an indecent assault on a single woman at Waihi, was brought up for sentence. The prisoner handed in some testimonials brought by him from Sydney. He> said that lie had had a lot of trouble lately; he had been in the wreck of the Elingamite, and he had had sickness in his family, This had . paused him to take to drink, which led him to commit this, his first offence. . - His Honor said this wa« rt mo 0 f ft violent and gross assault, the plea of drunkenness could not t£, accepted as an excuse. Tho prisoner sentenced to feus Ve&rs v imprisonment. • - THE RAWKNR OUTRAGE. . To Waka Kireka, To Puke Tipene, and Qimene Tipene, tho three young natives who pad beou convicted of offences on ft young Maori girl at Rawene, were placed in tho dofck. The first-named had been found guilty of rape, and the last-named of attempted rape, whilst To Puke was convicted of attempting to have carnal knowledge. Each of the prisoners stated that he had nothing to say. His Honor said that" he did not know that he had heard of a worse case than this. Aftqr referring to tho circumstances of the outrage, he addressed the prisoners as follow;—"I do not call you men; I call you brutes, and cowardly brutes at that. I shall make no distinction between you Te Waka, tod you Himone. The sentence on you, and teach of you, is that you bo imprisoned in Auckland prison for ten years, and that each of you receive two floggings, each of 25 strokes of the cat. ' You, Te Puke, have been more lightly treated by the jury. They acquitted you of attempted but have found you guilty of attempting to carnally know a girl' undei 16. I should, probably, if I had been in their place, have found you guilty of a graver crime, but I shall give effect to their verdict. The sentence of the • Court is, that you be imprisoned in Auckland prison, and kept to hard labour for five years." THE OTOROHANGA CASK., George Rudolph, a middle-aged half-caste, who had been convicted of rape on his 16-year-old daughter at Otorohanga, was brought up for sentence. Mr. Reed, who.appeared for the Drisoner, drew His Honor's attention to the recommendation of tho jury, that consideration should be given to the fact that the prisoner and the girl had been living together in a small' hut of about Bft by 6ft, this tending, in the jury's opinion, to provoke the crime that had been committed. His Honor said that this could not be accepted as an extenuating circumstance. Why did the prisoner live in such a place? Men with grown-up daughters residing with them, should find something better to live in than an Bft by 6ft hut. Mr. Reed said that persons in prisoner's circumstances could not choose their residence. In this case the man had been living in,the place provided for him by his employers. His Honor: Then he should have sent the girl away— service or elsewhere. Addressing the prisoner, His. Honor said: Prisoner, yours is a very disgusting case. It is time, I think, that you, and men like you, were taught a lesson in decency. I will always visit these brutal assaults upon women with severity." The prisoner interrupted His Honor, and made a statement in respect to the girl's behaviour, and the reason why, as he said, she had taken a dislike to him. ' His Honor, to the interpreter: ' Tell him that I do not believe a word he says. He did not venture to say this when the girl was here." The prisoner said that he had expected to have an opportunity of making a final statement from the dock at the time of his trial, but did not get it. His Honor said it would be a waste of words to talk further. A man who was capable of such conduct as that of the prisoner towards his own daughter was beyond creating any impression upon. The prisoner was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, and ordered to receive two floggings, each of 25 lashes with the " cat." A DISGUSTING AFFAIR. William MoLeod, who was found guilty on Saturday last of an indecent assault on a boy at Grey Lynn, stated that he had nothing to say. His Honor said " Prisoner, the disgusting offence of which you have been found guilty is, to my mind, only too leniently visited by the law. The extreme punishment which can be inflicted, in regard to time, is ten years' imprisonment. Such a man as you ought to be shut up for life. "Xoui offence, to my mind, is quite as bad as sodomy, for which you could be committed for life. You are also liable to be flogged, but I shall not order a flogging in your case—not out of any mercy for you, but because I think it is not required, as in other cases in which I have ordered floggings to-day. A flogging does not do any good to a prisoner, but it is a warning to others. Ido not think any warning to others is necessary in such a case as yours, or I would certainly have ordered it. The sentence of the Court is, that you be imprisoned in Auckland prison foi ten y<!6r3 ' OTHER SENTENCES. George Vernon Aimer, who had pleaded juilty in -the lower Court to a charge of breaking and entering the premises of his employers, Messrs. Cahill and Co., and stealing the sum of £53 17s 2d, was brought up for sentence. Mr. Reed, who appeared on behalf«of the prisoner, said that tho latter, who was only 16 years of age, had hitherto borne the best of characters and had been led astray by a man much older than himself. For two years or more he had had money constantly passing through his hands, and ho had always acted honestly prior to the present "affair. The case was one which the I robation Act was evidently intended to meet, and as the report of the probation officer was favourable, he asked that the prisoner be given the benefit of the Act. . Detective Mcllveney stated that the prisoner had hitherto been of good charactei, bo far as he could gather by inquiries. lhe Rev. Hugh Kelly said he had known the prisoner for about a year as a lad of good character, steady habits, and one who was greatly attached to his home. Many of his associates were personally known tc witness ts members of his church. John Robertson, manager of the City Council's abattoirs, said he had known the nrisoner fo: nearly four years, foi three years of which time witness saw him daily. Witness had frequently enJrusted the prisoner with commissions involving the charge of money, and had always found him honest. ' Tho father of the prisoner was also called. His Honor said he did not think the Probation Act was intended to apply to all firstoffenders. In each case the surrounding circumstances had to be taken into account. The present case appeared to be a particularly bad one. It was not a case in which the prisoner had acted upon a sudden impulse, as it had been shown that the crime had been deliberately olanned and carried out by means of a false key. The prisoner was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. His Honor said that it, at the trial of Thomas Andrew Conn (who bad been committed for trial in connection with the same matter) it was shown that he (His Honor) was wrong, in his view of Aimer's case, he would be one of tho first to reaaedy the matter.

Edwin Betherali', who had been remanded from the lower Court for sentence, on & charge of breaking and entering, and the theft of money at Mangere, was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. This closed' the business of the criminal sessions.