SUPREME COURT SITTING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 34

SUPREME COURT SITTING.

AUCKLAND, August 25. David Henry Kellett was found not guilty on a charge of assault with intent, but guilty of common assault, on a young girl in the 6treet, and was sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

August 29. Mr Justice Edwards granted decrees nisi ' in the cases of Edwin . Gibbs v. Beatrice Gibbs, for misconduct with" William Mortimer, and in Benjamin Toom Paris v. Adelaide Paris for misconduct with Jesse William Nicholson. In the latter case the judge refused cc6ts against the co-respondent, saying that a man who abandoned his wife and six children to another man for six years was not entitled to costs.. A decree* nisi was granted in William John Monk against Alice Maud Monk for misconduct with Walter Henry Gray (co-respondent). An affidavit filed by "a. Wellington . boarding-house keeper stated that 'respondent' and co-respondent lived in her-iiouse as man and wife. • A decree nisi was granted in Mary Jane "Couitbard v. Martin Cqulthard. The -parties^ were -man-ied on June 3 last. A , decree nisi .was also granted in William ~ Galbraith v. Clara Ruth Galbraith and . John Peterson (co-respondent), against whom costs were given. WANGANDT, August 25. « Mr Justice Chapman, in charging the Grand Jury this morning, congratulated . them on the almost total absence of serious crime in this important and growling district. The number of cases was co small that he thought he was justified in speaking of it as representing almost a total "absence of serious crime. George Stephen , Lawrence, of Ormondville, who had pleaded " Guilty " in the lower court of making a- false declaration of birth in respect of his two children with the object of protecting them and their mother, was fined JB3. Llewellyn Price and Arthur ; Boss wa« charged with breaking and [ entering. - - Late* to-night the jury disagreed.

WELLINGTON, August 25. * Edvrard George Hansen, an ex-contin-genter, sentenced at the Supreme "Court to-day to two years' imprisonment on a charge of breaking and entering at ' Eketahuna. A young man named Artuhr Mankwell was acquitted on a charge of carnally j knowing a girl under 16 years of age. ', ■ I August 27. ! By the new .provisions brought in by an act of last seesion lunacy was- made a •ground of- divorce. The first case of the kind in New Zealand was brought on at 1 the Supreme Court- to-day before Mr Justice Cooper. By direction ,of t the court, the~press was asked to refer to the parties as A and B. The petitioner deposed that ©he married respondent in 1889 at Wellington, and that there were three children of tlie marriage, two of them being still alive. Respondent had, she said, been an inmate of Mount View and Porirua Mental Hospitals during the last 13 years. Corroborative evidence was mven by Dr Haseell, superintendent of the PoriTua Hospital. His Honor said he thought in this case that a decree nisi must be made. There was no discretion left- to the court if two matters were proved — that was, if respondent wa6 mentally afflicted, and had been confined in the mental hospital for a period of not less than 10 years within 12 years prior to the petition and was not likely to recover from lunacy, and that there had been, nothing in the condition of the petitioner or her habits to contribute to the lunacy, the court must pronounce a decree. His Honor was satisfied that the case «was established. The .patient was committed to a mental hospital in 1895, suffering from dementia, which took the form of religious mania. During 10 years he had been under the care of Dr Haasell, a highly-qualified expert. His was a case in which there was not any reasonable probability of reoovery. Of couree, there- was always a possibility of recovery, but in a case of this' kind, in which the dementia had been chronic and had extended for a long period, the possibility of there being any recovery was exceedingly remote, and Dr Hassell said so. His Honor granted a decree nisi ; to be made absolute at the expiration ol six months. Decrees nisi were granted in the following cases : — Mary Campbell v. Rata -Campbell, John Eaton Deadman v. Eliza Jane Deadman, George Stafford v. Bertha Stafford. Decrees nisi were granted in the cases Joseph E. Harlen v. Mary Elizabeth Harlen and Ralph Taylor (co-respondent), Evelyn Ellen M'Lennan or White v. John White, on the ground that petitioner was not legally married to respondent ; William Samuel Furby v. Lily Furby, on tlie ground of misconduct ; Charles Henry Pearson v. Clara Jane Pearson, misconduct ; Elizabeth Barrow v. William Barrow, ill-treatment ; and Hannah Caesidy v. Harold Cassidy, misconduct. An order for restitution of conjugal rights was made in the case of Caroline Baker "V. Charles Hemy Baker. August 29. Wife desertion at Hobait was the ground of a divorce obtained yesterday by Jessie Foreman against Win. Thomas Forema-n, portrait painter. The case was partially heaid by Mr Justice Cooper on Wednesday, and adjourned until yesterday for further evidence. His Honor held that the fact of desertion stood upon Mrs Foreman's evidence that ehe had not been supported by her husband or lived with him for five years. This was supported by independent testimony, and, under the circumstances, his Honor could accept petitioner's evidence as to the maint-e-

nance order made by the magistrate against the respondent on Ist October, 1903> at Hpbart.. This established ihat some • time prior to the date in question respondent had deserted "petitioner." A decree nisi, to be made absolute at the expiration of three months, was~~ granted, and costs were awarded on the lowest scale against the respondent.

August 30. The marriage of Evelyn M'Lennan, or White, to John White was declared null and void yesterday on the* ground that the former wife of the respondent was alive, when the later marriage was celebrated. A decree nisi was granted in the case of Helen Ritchie Ball v. Alfred Ball on the grounds of desertion.

In Chambers yesterday, before Mr Justice Cooper, a nolle prosequi was entered by the Crown in respect of the case of Wallace Herbert Stewart, who was recently tried in the Supreme Court a second time on a charge of forgery. + i.ie jury disagreed last week. The action will thus go no further. CHBISTCHURCH, August 31.

John Pearson, who was found guilty by a common jury of indecent assault, and acquitted on a charge of illegally using an instrument, was brought up for sentence to-day, the case having been reserved- by Mr Justice Denniston for legal argument. The police said that accused's statement that he was a regis tered practitioner in Sydney was quite untrue. "The New South Wales police said that be was unregistered, andf, further, that he was well known in connection with certain practices. He had deserted his wife and family, had been convicted for theft in New Zealand, and had lived with a woman who had received a four years' sentence for illegal practices. His Honor sentenced Pearson to six months' imprisonment.

INVERCAEGILL, August 25. The Supreme Court sittings opened this morning before Mr Justice Williams There are only three cases for trial — one of sheep-stealing and two of shooting with intent. True bills were found in each. The hearing of the case against Thomas Stott, a coloured man, of wounding a girl, Mary Ann Brown, with intent, was first taken. Stotfr visited the house with a gun in his possession. The girl sought refuge in her bedroom, and the weapon was discharged, inflicting serious injury in her arm. The defence was that the gun was fired accidentally. Stott was found, guilty of inflicting grevious bodily harm, and his HonQr deferred sentence until he had read thp. notes of the previous case in which Stott was charged with murder and acquitted.

August 28.

Thomas. Stott was to-day sentenced by Mr Justice Williams to five years' imprisonment on & charge of shooting Mary Ann Brown at Edendale with intent "to do- grievous bodily harm. Charles G-. Thurston, -indicted on five counts for doing actual bodily harm to S. J. Leahy and Owen Swan-, at Gore, by shooting them. Neither *of the men was badly hurt. Thurston was ©ant to gaol for three months. The evidence showed that Swan and Leahy had been introduced to Thurston's house by another man, Hamilton. During Thurston's absence a bottle of whisky was produced by Hamilton, and when Tlmrston returned he upbraided and chased his wife, -accusing her of having taken his whisky to give to the men. She appealed for protection, and Leahy knocked Thurston down. He was put on the sofa, and' the men left the house. After they had parsed through the gat© Thurston discharged a gun, Swan subsequently finding a pellet of shot in his thumb and another in his chest, and Leahy a bruise on the hip, which, he 6tated was caused by the gun.

August 29. In the case Morrison v. Morrison and Forbes (co-respondent), a husband's petition on the ground of misconduct, a decree nisi was granted, to be made absolute in three months, with £50 damages against the co-respondent, the husband to have custody of the three children.

August 31

At the Supreme Court to-day a decree nisi was granted in the case of Christopher Shead v. Elizabeth Louisa Shead and Isaiah William Lee (co-respondent), with costs on the lowest scale against the co-respondent.