SUPREME COURT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 34

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SITTINGS. Tuesday, August 18. (Before His Honor Mr Justice Williams.) The criminal sittings were continued at 10.30 a.m. RECEIVING STOLES PROPERTY. The case in which Robert Wells was charged on four- 1 counts with having received copper boilers stolen from the Caledonian Society, the Salvation Army, and from John Overend Hewton, knowing them to have been stolen, was further proceeded with, Mr-Macassey appearing for the Crown, and Mr Burnard for defendant, as before. His Honor, in summing up, said as to whether accused knew the boilers weir-e stolen depended upon the credibility of the two boys. To buy anything boys chose to bring for sale, and taking their story as to how they came by things, was an encouragement to boys to steal. The boys were bad boys. There was no doubt about that, and. the statement that Wells had sent them to Erickson threw a doubt upon their evidence. The -jury retired at 12.15 and returned at 3 o'clock with a verdict of "" Not guilty. INDECENT ASSAULT. Frank George Melhop wa« indicted that between May- 15 and June 30 he, did at Mornington indecently assault two girls under the age of 16 years. There was a second indictment, in which he was changed with" Indecently assaulting another young girl,, and to this a second count charging common assault. , Accused pleaded " Guilty to both ° h MfHanlon: I appear tor the prisoner, . if your Honor pleases. It must be admitted that nothing can be said . m extenuation of the actual offences They are cea--Sy offences, of an inexplicable character, becauee as your Honor will see from the dSS&ons. they were committed in .the X£m whilst the class was m session and all the pupik assembled could eitnei see or hear something of what went on. No physical damage was done to the children, and the only harm to them is in co far as their moral characters have been affected. It is one of those crimes that we hear of just now and again and, as 1 have said is quite inexplicable. „o? me velrs Sothfa young fellow lost his father Se which time heand his motea, brother have struggled to get along ; in the world. He was a school teacher, and had a promising career before him, and I would £k your Honor, in fixing the pim»hment. to take into consideration the fact that, by this impropriety, he has eacrificed his character and lost the opportunity that was opening up to him. His whole life » now bfaatedVhis folly I would ako ask you to take into consideration the- tact that in consequence of his pleading guilty the harm to the children "is somewhat minamised— mar© co than if he had defended himself. Naturally one has tried to ascertain how it was that he gave way to this offence, but it is impossible to ascertain why he committed offences which, on the face of them, are stupid and silly. All I can say is that he has had a good character, and that he- has lost everything that life held out to him, and I ask "your Honor to take these things into consideration. 1 have" witnesses who can speak, as to his character if necessary. One of them is a clergyman who has come expressly from Invi&joargill. M!r Macaesey. said, that prisoner was born in Invercargill 23 years ago, and his general character was good. -His Honor said he had no doubt as to prisoner-'s previous character, but it might be as well to call the witnesses. Rev. Arthur Pybus, Primitive Methodist minister of Invercargill, eaid that he had known Melhop intdmatelv since 1897, and during that time he had borne a most excellent character, keepin E free from evil company, and being much given to study. His "conduct was most exemplary. William Davidson, head master Mornington School, said that during the 18 months Melhop had been in the school his general character was excellent. He was devoted greatly to study. In Ja.mia.ry last he went up for an examination, and broke dowrr, physically and otherwise. Rev. D. J. Murray said that he had known accused for 18 months, and had been in close contact with him His general character was irreproachable. His Honor : I have some difficulty in dealing with this case. There is no doubt 'that the acts to which accused .has pleaded guilty caused no physical injury to theae girls, and they were committed under oiroumstanees which mad-e it impossible that the accused could then have had any intention of doing anything more than he actually did. That, of course, .has to ba taken into consideration in passing sentence. So, also, {t is just to take into consideration the fact that he has pleaded guilty, because by so doing the necessity of calling these children and further corrupting their minds by compelling them to gave evidence in this court has been avoided. The accused was, however, in the h-ighlv honourable and responsible position of a teacher If a teacher cannot be trusted, who can be trusted? I do not think I should be justified in passing 1 a less sentence than two years 1 imprisonment, with hard labour. The se-ntence of the court is that you be im-prison-eJ for two years, with hard lchcii.-. DIVORCE. Fridat, August 21. (Before his Honor Mr Justice Williams.) STUART V. STUART. This was a petition for divorce by Hel-en Elizabeth Stuart against Alexander Stuart, jun., on thp ground of desertion. Mr A. C. Hanlon (for petitioner) that his client was married to rpspond-ent. who was a salesman, on August 3, 1892 at the Presbyterian Church. Napier. Thov had lived topr-ether at Hastings, and for 15 months at Dunedin, also for pix months at Melbourne, for two year« at Fremantle. and for a year at Auckland. Respondent deserted petitioner about 6. 1903. Petitioner had been v-ery ill at Wanganui in th-e Hospital and their homo had been sold up, respondent sroine to livo with hm own people. I*\-n ing petitioner to do the ! b<^t she coujd. Petitioner in her eiidenee said respondent was continually logins h'\< .-itnations through his drink ins habits. Sho had been obliged to keep things q:oinEr by dre.-s-making-. Tlipre were two children, Elizabeth Downing (ppiilioner'= mothei) sravo evid'-nce as to having taken her daughter back to her home four times since her marriaero. n«r darsrhior had boon coinppll"d to brr-?k up r-ieht homos in the course of her mariu'd life. A dpcrp-e nisi \va, granted, with costs against respondent.

IN CHAMBERS. Probate was granted in the estates of the following deceased persons : — John Dunlay (Mr Callan); John Henry Herman Gerken {Mr Inglis), Alexander Grigor (Mr Inglis), Benjamin Yeoman (Mr Wilkinson), John •Ainslie Torrance (Mr Payne), James Taylor (Mr Collier), Annie Dorothea Cook (Mr Callan), Samuel Miller (Mr Woodhouse), Henry White (Mr Payne), Margaret Jane Butement (Mr Cook) Charles Edward Bird (Mr Cook). Letters of administration were granted as follows : — Re Joseph Mitchell, deceased {Sir Duncan), the application was allowed to stand over. SITTINGS ELSEWHERE. AUCKLAND, August 24. James Percy Parkhurst, formerly employed as a car cleaner by the Auckland Electric Tramway Company, was at the Supreme Court to-day charged with the theft of five umbrellas, and, secondly, with receiving five umbrellas knowing them to have been dishonestly obtained. For the prosecution evidence was given to the effect that, while prisoner was in custody on another charge, a detective searched the house and found the five umbrellas produced. Prisoner then said that some of them were brought home by a man named Lynn. Prisoner subsequently admitted taking home three umbrellas. ' The jury, after' a brief retirement, found "the prisoner guilty of common tbeft, adding :." We urge that he b'e -treated with leniency, in view of the extremely lax manner in which the Tramway Company conducts its business at the car barn." He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. HASTINGS, August 20. Charles Tipping, a labourer, was committed for trial on a charge of assaulting a woman by striking her on the head with a spade. Bail (accused in £100 and two sureties of £50 each) was forthcoming. WELLINGTON, August 18. At the .Supreme Court to-day James Chalker was found guilty of stealing a bookmaker's ticket, valued at £12, from Edward James Hughes, .at Pahiatua. Sentence was deferred. William Gunn M'Kay was found iruilty of stealing clothing from the steamer Blenheim, and was remanded for sentence. William Edward Mackie, charged with assaulting Samuel Juliffe, a farmer, of Johnsonville, and stealing from him a gold watch, was found guilty of receiving stolen property and obtaining money by false pretences by selling the same. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. A.ugutt 20. To-day James Madder and Hemy Mather were sentenced on a charge of breaking end entering. Madder, who admitted con-vict-ions at Giebor-flie, Wellington, and Christchurch, was sentenced , to three years' imprisonment, and was declared to be a habitual criminal. Mather was (sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Geor.ge Oram was charged w.ith having burglariously broken and entered the shop of Thomas Crouch, in Wellington, and having stolen therefrom a large quantity of jewellery. After a lengthy hearing accused was found not guilty. August 21. Harry Ballantyn^, a young man, who was charged with having committed an unnatural offence, was found not guilty. August 22. At the Supreme Court to-day William West, alias Westphal, a young foreigner, was found guilty of attempting to commit a criminal offence on a married woman, and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. August 24. John Chalker was to-day sentenced to six months' imprisonment on a charge of the theft at Pahiatua of a bookmaker's ticket. CHRISTCHURCH, August 18. At the Supreme Court to-day Deonard Sutherland, who was found guilty of forgery, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. Charlotte Elizabeth Moraghan was indicted for that, on April 18 last, at Ashburton, she committed the crime of bigamy by marrying George Wanakott. her husband, James Stephen Moraghan, being still alive. His Honor put the issue to the jury : " Whether, when the accused went through the second marriage ceremony, she had honest and reasonable belief that her husband was dead." After a retirement of about half an hour the iury returned with the answer " No " to the k«ue submitted, with the addition that the jury wished hi 6 Honor to deal leniently w it' accused. Hie Honor said that the jury's answer was equivalent to a verdict of" guilt-. Addressing the accused, his Honor said that i,he had no doubt been guilty in law of bigamy. After referring to the serious aspects of the crime in certain circumstances, his Honor said that thouprh.in thp present case the iury had pronerlv found that the woman had acted recklessly, and though there were suspicious circumstances connected with the second marriage ceremony, thero appeared to have been some suggestion that her first husband was dead He thought he would be giving full effect to the recommendation of the jury if he ordered accused to entei- into her own recognisances to come up for sentence when called on Thomas "Vickerv was charged with having, on May 21 laet. in the Magistrate's Court, ar Oxford, committed periiirv. After a retirement of 20 minutes th-e i"-v returned a verdict of not ffuilty, and ;hr> a-censed was discharged. John Page was indicted on a charge that he committed periurv in a ca^o heard at (he Magistrate's Court, Chrnlchurch. on May 10 last. The ra=f was not finished when the court rose for the day. August 20. At to-day's sitting David Coui'teney. charged with the theft of a pur?? rontainina; £3 fiom the person of Michael Ryan in a Rircnrton hoiel, TVfis found sruiltv. and Fentmred to thicc % ears' imimprisonmont vitU hard laWn\ to r>in eon-curivntly with a sentence lov .i^-nvlt nnd robb^rv th;>t hr> is r.n'r tprvin". TieP'rKP Triofeo vri« ch^ropd v\ifh 'nvin r ; m M-iy 30. by striking Alexander MXci on the bpicl. cau.-ed him nc-tur.l bodHv harm. The accused wn« amuitted William Preston and Alexander Onrdiner wore convicted of th^ th-pft of £5. and fcenfenrc wn= d"f°rir-d till to mm row. CHRIfSTCHrECH. Auau-t 21. Th-e criminal sittings of thp Suureme

T Court was continued this morning. William Bell, aged 28, was brought 1 up for sentence on a charge of breaking and entering and thert, to which he had pleaded guilty in the lower court. His Honor said the case did not apoear to be a very serious one. The accused would be- sentenced to six months' imprisonment. John Pearson, for whom Mr Alpers appeared, was charged -with unlawfully using am instrument to procure abortion, and, on further counts, with misrepresentation iand with indecent assault between January 1 and February 5, at Christchuroh. The accus-ed pleaded. "Not guilty.' His Honor, in summing up, put certain questions to the jury. The jury, after a retirement of 27 minutes, returned with the answer " Not " to the question, " Did the accused use an instrument for the purpose of procuring a miscarriage ?" His Honor said that this answer amounted to an acquittal on the graver charge, and to a verdict of guilty on the charge of indecent assault. The foreman of the jury said that the intention of the jury was to convey that accused was misleading the girl at the time. Mr Alpers submitted that probably the jury had not realised that their answer to the first question involved a verdict of guilty to the other count. The jury conferred, and i the foreman said that the idea of the jury "was that' the had placed herself in the hands of the accused in order that he should procure abortion, and that accused had been deceiving her. -His ■ Honor fixed the 31st met. as the date upon which to hear argument on the question of indecent assault. August 22. rThe criminal sittings of the Supreme Court were resumed before Mr Justice j Denniston this morning. William Pres- { ton and Alexander Gardiner, who were found guilty earlier in the sittings oi theft from the person, came up for sentence. His Honor ordered each accused to enter into his own recognisance to come up for sentence when called on. I His Honor deferred passing sentence en | John Herbert King, who pleaded { "Guilty" in the lower court to indecent assault on a girl under 16 years of age", until he had obtained some further information. Stanley Herbert Joseph was charged with having, on July 24, indecently assaulted a girl under 16 years lof age. The jury, after a retirement, brought in a verdict of " Guilty." Accused was then indicted on a similar charge against another girl under 16 | years of age, and he pleaded "Guilty." His Honor, in sentencing prisoner, said 1 that if he did not think that the two , cases, both occurring practically at the same time and under the same influences, had been isolated cases or that there was the slightest ground for the idea that accused was addicted to conduct such as that of which he had been convicted, he | would sentence him to a lengthy term of '..imprisonment. He had, however, the i statement of the Crown authorities that there was no suggestion of that sort, and that there was no reason to doubt accused's statement that (except as to the matter of an assault a number of years ago, for which accused was not actually sentenced) accused had for 23 years borne a good character. There was also the fact that the acts of indecency for which j accused had been convicted were simply j acts of lewdness, with nothing of what j might be called a sexual element about I them. Children must, however, be protected from such aberrations. His Honor added that he was giving accused the full benefit of his orevious good char- | acter and. as his Honor believed, the ' exceotional nature of his conduct on the 1 occasion which led to the Charges being I made against him- in sentencing him to six months' imprisonment. j - August 24- ; At the Supreme Court to-day John Herbert King, aged 22, was sentenced to six months' probation bn a charge of indecent assult on a girl under 16. Mr Justice Denniston stated that he had heard that the prisoner was willing to marry the girl, but the sfirl's mother ! had very properly refused the offer. A I very large proportion of the desertions and divorces which came under the con- | sideration of the courts were caused by I the insistence of marriage, often under the pressure of the threat of criminal proceedings. This irequentlv had the effect of nddino- to the original injury i and even entailing the more serious one • of premature and compulsory union for ! life. I