SHEEP-STEALING CHARGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21018, 6 May 1930, Page 5

SHEEP-STEALING CHARGE.

ADJOURNED UNTIL NEXT SESSIONS. FRESH EVIDENCE TO BE CALLED. There was a further unexpected development in the Supreme Court yesterday morning in the case in which Gilbert William Lewis was charged with - sheep stealing. The hearing of the case had' been almost completed last week, when two of the jurymen were discovered in an hotel conversing and drinking with two of the witnesses for the defence. On the application of the Crown Prosecutor (Mr F. B. Adams) Mr Justice Kennedy ordered that a new trial should take* place. When the case was called yesterday morning Mr Hanlon, K.C., who appeared for the accused', stated that Mr Adams had given him notice on Saturday of his intention to call a considerable volume of fresh evidence. It had not been possible to give notice earlier, and the late notice had placed the accused at a disadvantage. It had been quite impossible for counsel to make inquiries or obtain rebutting evidence, and he and Mr Adams had agreed that the case should stand over so that the accused could obtain evidence. He, therefore, applied for an adjournment untU the next sessions or until such time aa his Honor thought fit. Mr Adams stated that he regarded the fresh evidence which he proposed to call as of such importance that he could not waive it. He also admitted that it Was of such a nature as to entitle the accused to an adjournment. To ayoid witnesses’ expenses he had taken the responsibility with Mr Hanlon of stating that the case would not go on yesterday. His Honor granted an adjournment until the next trial of criminal cases at Dunedin. The accused, he stated, would be admitted to bail as before, and the witnesses would, be rebound.