PLEADING FOR ANOTHER CHANCE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7356, 7 February 1911, Page 1

PLEADING FOR ANOTHER CHANCE

DANGEROUS CRIMINAL SENTENCED POLICE ACCUSED OF HOUNDING HIM DOWN.' A very dangerous criminal, known i* New Zealand as George Williams, who had been found guilty of assaulting Bartholomew Mahoney with intent to fob, was brought before Mr Justice Chapman for sentence yesterday morning. Mr H. H. Ostler. Crown Prosecutor, said tho prisoner’s record showed that he belonged to' a very dangerous class of criminal. Most of his prison career was in New South Wales, where ho was known lay’ several aliases, including that of “Teddy the Burglar.” In 1889 he received ten years’ hard labour for robbery with violence. If, as prisoner stated, he wag" forty-two years of age now, tho sentence quoted was inflicted when Wil- - Hams was twenty yeans of ago. In 1896 ho received five years’ hard labour for attempting to choke. Prisoner: I dispute that.' ' Mi- Ostler said Uio.ro were several minor, convictions against the mam including assaults and drunkenness. lie received a sentence of twelve months in 1903; and in 1909 ha got two years’ hard labour in the Supremo Court at Wellington for assault with intent to rob —a case similar to the present one. Prisoner had only been out of, gaol for about two months. Be had been warned by the police when he arrived. OPPORTUNITY WANTED. Prisoner, speaking very rapidly, made on appeal to his Honor for another chance. Ho spoke at the rale of about 250 words a minute and did not stop for twenty minutes. Ho said, bo had. never been given an opportunity. As soon as he came out of gaol the police pounced upon him'and trumped , up some sort of a charge to have hint put in gaol again. He had worked for two or three yeans in Now Zealand, , putting up buildings in the city, and ho defied anybody to say lie was of bad character during , that time. Ho had got into evil company, however, and was sentenced , to two 'years' imprisonment. He attributed his position to drink. As to tho charge of attempting to. rob Mahoney he was as innocent as a new-born babe. He had picked Mahoney up and was about to get him a place for the night when he started the brawl. Mahoney was of a very quarrelsome nature. .1 am forty-two years of age,” ho continued!, “and my life has been wrecked.” He complained of tho persecution of him by the '.New South Wales and New Zealand detectives and police. Ho had been persecuted inside tlie prison as well as ’outside. Ha could-not walk down any Sydney street without being pounced upon, by the police and taken in charge as_a suspected person. He made a rambUng statement concerning the sentence of ten years he had received, making out that he was innocent and that this had been proved by the dying confession of a woman. Ho pleaded liurd for one more chance, promising never to come before the court again. “I will take up the . thread of an honest life where it was broken off.” he continued. "I feel my position very keenly when I look back upon my past life and sen bow I have been hounded down. It is enough to make a . man commit suicide. My,downfall is through other men. simply because I would not bo a traitor. I throw myself on your mercy like the repentant thief on the Cross. Give me something to live for. I can say nothing more. I am done.” NOT HOUNDED DOWN. Mr Ostler said prisoner had not been hounded down by the New Zealand police. Williams arrived in New -Zealand in 1898 with a gang of Now South Wales criminals. Prisoner made another rambling statement. He denied arriving hero with a gang of criminals. He alleged that ho had been taken from Darlinghurst gaol two days before the expiry of his sentence and placed on board a steamer bound for New Zealand in charge of • warder. , ' . HIS HONOR’S REMARKS.. His Honor said he had in his pos-, session two. certificates concerning the. character of prisoner—one being from a clergyman, in Wellington connected with a mission where Williams used to go. Neither certificate attempted to account for the Wo years prisoner had been to gaol. What his Honor had before himi was Die actual list of prisoner’s previous ponvictiona The record showed' three crimes involving dishonesty and’ violence, one having been recorded in Wellington. In addition there wore six crimes of violence, besides other counts. "You are scarcely put of prison," continued the judge, "when you are again convicted of robbery with yjo- ■- lence—violence of a kind which might have had much more serious results with a weaker victim.” Prisoner must be given a severe sentence. His Honor referred to ,th«itefo'rmative treatment provided by last session’s Act, explaining_ that it would give, men such as the prisoner a chance to mend thei r ways. Prisoner would bo treated as an habitual criminal if ho came before the court again. He was sentenced, to three years’ hard labour, to be followed by three years’ detention for reformative purposes.