Mackay, Ex-Mayor Of Wanganui, Released From Mount Eden Gaol

NZ Truth, Issue 1084, 9 September 1926, Page 1

Mackay, Ex-Mayor Of Wanganui, Released From Mount Eden Gaol

EJGHT YEARS AND NINE MONTHS OF FIFTEEN %ARS' SENTENCE FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER REMITTED Discharge Conditional. On His Leaving The Dominion

.'...:' : ".. released after serving only a small portion of his sentence a full statement of the case should be publicly made. , Unless a frank statement setting" out the reasons for the, step adopted is forthcoming, asuspicipn is imme,diately created that the prisoner has been leniently treated on account of his former position. The creation of such a suspicion is not m the best interests of justice; for invariably it fosters the belief that our system of justice is not as fair and impartial as it is reputed, to be. It. tends to 'lower -the status of the law. In the case of Mackay no statement has been made '., public, and although there may have been good grounds for the action .taken the feeling: amongst the bulk of. the general nublic will be that Mackay has been very leniently treated. on account of the influence which he at one time possessed. "Would I ha.ye been similarly treated had I been m Mackay's shoes?" is the question which, the Man m the Street will ask himself, and m ninetynine cases .out of 100 he will answer m the negative. ' . , -™*TO AUSTRALIA Gharies, Evan Mackay pleaded guilty to a charge of Having: ' attempted-to murder; Walter Darey ;.■ Qresswe.ll- at Wanganui on May 15, 1920, and on June 4 of the same year he was sentenced' by Sir Robert Stout, the. then Chief Justice, to 15 years' imprisonment.. He was released on August 6' last, it being made, a condition of his discharge that, he should leave the country forthwith. ; ';■:. • At 3 p.m. on the day of his release

•.ifiMiiiiiiMMiJfiimiiiiHmiiiiimiiiiihiJiiitMfmJiimiiiiiMmiHiiiiiiitinmiuniHiiiiiMiMniitinHtUMiHiiiMiiiMimMiiu^ 0 If. Having served but -six years and three months of his 11 II sentence of 15 years' imprisonment for attempted murder, "|| ||\ Charles Evan Mackay, ex-Mayor of "Wanganui, was dis- ij •|f charged from Mt.Edeh gaol on August 6 last. '. || || \ ' A condition attached to his discharge was that he should || l| < immediately leave the 'Dominion.'. • ' , || || ■ No word concerning Mackay 's release has found its. || I| way into the daily press, and the whole matter appesars to |l II have been closely hushed up. .. ' H II •; ', , ■ : < „ " ■ ; „■ , „„ , , 'JI

the "Marama" ' sailed from Auckland after serving only portion of the senfor v Sydney, and the name of "C. E. tence- imposed upon him, but at that Mackay" was listed amongst the second time he could hardly have felt that saloon passengers who travelled by Mackay would have almost nine years that vessel. . . , knocked off his sentence; for in ' his No other vessels bound for. overseas address to the prisoner he stressed the ports left Auckland on that day or for serious nature of his crime, two or three days afterwards, and ;al,- »| am not going to refer to the ise^fy'^MaclSo^.S^ger ; -rcum S t a nce s of what you did list with the Mackay who waa formerly further than to.say that it was not Mayor of Wanganui, it seems impos- an impulsive act, as the placing of sible. or at any . ; . '". the revolver m

rate improbable, that the matter is mere coincidence, especially as t-h c initials and ages are identical. "Truth" is conEvinced that Mackay" sailed aboard, the : "Marama,"' hut whether he , departed' by.- thi s ■vessel' 'or not there is no doubt that he has left the country." " y . He was sentenced to 15 years' ,im-

prisbnment, and he served but, six years and three months of that sentence. In other words, he had eight, years and nine months, or more than half, of his sentence remitted. . ', . Sir Robert Stout, m. sentencing Mac- ' kay, certainly forecasted his release

Cresswell's hands shows," said the •then Chief .Justice. -^ "I have been asked to exercise my" duty 'with, com-; passion and ■ mercy —1 always strive -to do that; but I have to remember that this is an attack upon human life, and, .>ltifiha.vier.'.to remember that the .ideal of justice ife that human life mus t b.e, ;ke p t. sacred. "At the same'

time *I - believe you are , laboring: under a s'dtd affliction. „:..,' Xi^.^^C ' "The sentence < I iarh going to pdss upon you is one. that may be; revised hereafter by the, -Prisons- Board and; the i Executive Council. The sentence therefore does not mean you will spend all < that time m gaol. I think it is possible

3 ... — V, , : — — — — "—- --that you may redeem yourself and yet become amoral citizen." ' ... Adding that Mackajr had taken the first step m that direction by pleading guilty, Sir Robert expressed a hope that the prisoner would, redeem him-' self, and he then passed sentenqe. Apparently; however, Mackay has not fully redeemed himself m the view of those responsible for his release, as he was told that if discharged he must .at; once leave the' country. That condition was equivalent to a declaration that Mackay was not a fit and proper citizen for the Dominion. A COMPARISON If Mackay had fully redeenxed . himself a*rid deserved the large reduction m his sentence, why was he not allowed to remain m New Zealand? Ten days after Mackay 's release, on August 16, Joseph Crook was killed at Mt. Eden gaol quarry, and it is interesting to review Crook's story m comparison with that of Mackay. Crook was convicted, m the latter part of lfllO of a serious: assault upon a little girl of six, and he -was sentenced to 14 years', imprisonment,, a year less than the sentence passed upon Mackay. He had no previous convictions. , '.;•'. „ At the time of his death he had .served 'half that sentence, and no evidence was given at the inquest as to his behavior and conduct m prison.. But whereas Mackay served only just over;, six years qf ;. a 15 years' sentence, Crook had "served seven years of a 14 years' sentence, and t he presumably would have, served for a still longer- period Had not . Death released him. ' The serious riiture of ' Mackay's crime 1 — had Cresswell not survived Mackay would have been sentenced to death— the very substantial reduction made m his sentence, and the fact that he was ordered to "leave the country if discharged strongly suggests preferential treatment, and it is therefore the Government's, duty to see that. a. full statement of the case is made public.