ACCUSED'S OUTBURST

NZ Truth, Issue 1253, 5 December 1929, Page 7

ACCUSED'S OUTBURST

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Wellington 'Rep.) "This will kill my mother! ... She is very frail, that is why I ask for probation, . . My poor mother!" ALMOST sobbing the words, a mid-dle-aged man, James Taylor Watt, stepped from the dock m. the Supreme Court to serve two years' reformative detention for an indecent offence. Somewhat deaf, Watt took some time to fully understand that the court wished to hear anything he might say. When it was made known to him, he burst forth m a flood of words, pleading for leniency. "Two years . ago, my mother was prostrated by the death • of her eldest son and she has: lost a brother; she is very frail, and if she knew I was m prison it would eventually kill her," pleaded Watt. "That's why I ask for probation. His Honor, the Chief Justice, told the prisoner plainly that he could hope for no mercy. . . "The circumstances as disclosed m the depositions are such as to exclude any question of probation," said his Honor. "Moreover, this is not the -first time you have been convicted on a charge of indecency. , "The "sentence of the court is that you be imprisoned for two years for reformative purposes/*