SUPREME COURT

Otago Witness, Issue 3036, 22 May 1912, Page 36

SUPREME COURT

CRIMINAL SITTINGS.

AUCKLAND, May 18. Judge Edwards to-day sentenced M'Cully to six months' imprisonment for cargo pillaging; iiieiiard v\ aring to 18 months on three charges of cargo pillaging (concurrent); Edward Sutherland and John William Lees, for breaking and entering and theft at Taumarunui, one year on each charge (concurrent); James Crown, breaking and entering and theft, three years' imprisonment, and declared a habitual 'criminal; William Black, forging and uttering, two charges, 18 months on each charge (concurrent); Robert Thomas, receiving stolen property at the Thames, three years' probation; James Bron, breaking and entering and theft, one year; John iWemiger, assault with intent, five years; Thomas Vail, theft at Gisborne, probation for two years. May 6. The criminal sessions opened to-day before Mr Justice Chapman, who, in his charge to the Grand Jury, remarked that the calendar was the shortest in his experience in Wellington. There was no answer when the name of George Ellis Allen was called. Allen had been committed for trial on a charge of having forged the name of H. Webb to a cheque for £5 and uttering the same to Thos. Page. He had been admitted to bail in the sum of £SO. Mr H. H. Ostler (Crown Prosecutor) stated that Allen had been admitted to bail, and the l>olice reported that he had absconded. His Honor: When did they miss him? Mr Ostler replied that Allen was missed shortly after his admission to bail' when the police wanted him for offences committed after his trial in the lower court. His Honor made an order estreating the absconder's bail. May 8. James Purcel O'Brien was to-day found guilty of common assault. He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, to be followed by three 3'ears' detention for reformative treatment. Thomas Henderson, a young man with several aliases, was to-day found guilty of charges of opening telegrams sent from Fred Jewell to T. Phillips. Evidence was given by two telegraph messengers that they went with telegrams addressed to Phillips, and, not knowing his address, went into a tobacconist's ship to inquire. The accused was there, and said h-* would take the telegrams as Phillips was his cousin Ho opened them, and took notes in a pocketbook, and afterwards sealed them up with stickers, which he persuaded the boys to get from the Telegraph Office. Mr Justice Chapman inflicted a sentence of 18 months' hard labour. More than passing interest attaches to the remarks made by Mr Justice Chapman when sentencing Arthur Joseph Wicks, a music teacher, to four years' imprisonment with hard labour for indecently assaulting a girl of 14. When Wicks came up for sc-ntence this afternoon Mr Herdman reminded his Honor of the jury's recommendation to mercy. Wicks was aged 41 years, in the prime of life, and after a lapse some time ago he had made an attempt to retrieve his position. His Honor said he would not attach im portance to that lapse when dealing with tho present case. "So far as Wk-ks's moral character is concerned," Mr Herdman continued, '" there is nothing to show that he has not lived u £ood lite. This is his first lapse of the kind 1 . My position in this case is a very difficult one indeed. I ask for a sentence that will enable Wicks to serve it and make a fresh start, lie has a wife and two chil dren. Drink was the cause of this and previous trouble, and he had taken a prohibition order out against himself." His Honor said: I intend to give some effect to tho recommendation of the jury, but beyond giving it some effect 1 cannot <4O. It is a case in which the solemn duty I owe to the people of this community compels mo to inflict a severe sentence upon you. What 1 can't help seeing in this ease is that if that girl had not steadfastly re sis ted something worse would have happened. I can't overlook a case of this sort, or treat it with leniency. I know there are a very large number of people who can't afford to pay for the musical education of children in their own homes, and they havo to bo sent out A girl has to be entrusted for some time alone to some teacher, male or female, and apparently in tliis way one was entrusted to you. The relatives of the children seem to have had implicit confidence in you, and you have committed a very grave and gross breach of trust. It is the duty of this court, to protect children in all cases, and to pass a solemn warning to men with the inclination you havo shown that such offenoes must in all oases be met bv severe punishment. It might have been a case of yielding to sudden temptation, nevertheless, it was a case where ruin and life-long misery might have been caused. You have not only been guilty of a very gross breach of trust in the treatment of the child confided to you, but you have been guilty of a very gross ' wrong to your own profession. You have

done something which inevitably must tend to shake public confidence in men who are engaged in teaching music. I don't say that without consideration. It is an appalling fact, but this is the fourth case of a music teacher who has been guilty of a grossly immoral, act with which I have had to doa'l in the last two or three years. I can offer no explanation of that, but it is a fact, and I leave it to those who investigate such matters to seek an explanation. It causes a great shock, and has a tendency to lower the confidence that the public hold, in a profession which ought to be. one to which all classes of people look with respect. I havo a very painful duty to perform. It is to pass on you what I consider a necessary and adequate sentenoe. You must be sentenced to prison with hard labour for four years. May 9. The third trial of Frederick William Green on a charge of stealing £155 7s 6d while eeorotary of the Wellington Working- Men's Club took place in the Supreme Court to-day. According to the evidence, Green was dismissed for carelessness and negligence, but no dishonesty was suspected. It was afterwards found that there was a discrepancy between the club's books and the bank records, and the charge was laid. After a. retirement of some houis the jury failed to agree. The Crown Prosecutor entered a stay of "proceedings, and Green was discharged. AUCKLAND. May 20. The criminal sittings of the Supreme Court opened before Mr Justice Sim. His Honor stated that the calendar was not a very heavy one for Auckland. It comprised 27 charges against 33 persons, none of which presented any unusual difficulty. The grand jury brought in true bills in all the cases. The fact that a fair proportion of the cases comprise assaults on children made a strong impression on the grand jury, which handed to Mr Justice Sim the following presentment this evenjng : —"The grand jury views with the greatest -alarm the many charges for offences against young children, and would respectfully bring under the notice of your Honor the necessity of severe punishment being meted out to offenders, either by long severe reformatory sentences in the case of degenerates, or by ordering lashing in oases of a wilful character.'' - For breaking and entering a youth named John Lovett was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. William Montague Davenport Howes, for indecent assault, was sent to gaol for seven years. The prisoner is an elderly man. A large number of divorce cases were disposed of. In each of the following cases a decree nisi was granted, to be made absolute in three months :—Eleanor Agnes Wakelin v. Herbert Wakelin (misconduct) ; Clara Ann Inglis v. Hugh Roger Inglis (drunkenness); Margaret Annie M'Kinstry v. Andrew M'Kinstry (desertion) ; Silas" Cotterell v. Ethel Cotterell and Frank E. • Watling ( (misconduct) ; David Alcock v. Marian Elizabeth Alcock and Walter William Carpenter (misconduct) ; Ivy Charlotte Sayers v. Harold Harding Sayers (desertion); Ciaus Nissen v. Amy Jane Nissen and Augustus J. Crawford (misconduct); Isabella Shafto v. Thomas Henry Shafto (desertion); Louis Woodcock v. Harriet Eleanor Woodcock (misconduct); Amelia Hendry v. John Kinnard Hendry (desertion); Joseph Henry Walker lioye v. Elizabeth Hoye and Charles Piper (misconduct); Arthur Gerald Lewis v. Ellen Lewis and Walter Byron (misconduct); Bernice Agnes Burke v. Edmund Burke (drunkenness); Elsie May Moore v. Edward William Moore (desertion) ; Alice Louisa Stone v. Edwin Charles Stone (desertion); Eliza Maud Neill v. Walter Neill (drunkenness); Lottie Munro v. Phillip Munro (desertion); Elizabeth Perry v. Michael Perry (drunkenness). CHRISTCHURCH, May 13. The Criminal Sittings were opened Today. His Honor, in addressing the Grand Jury, said the calendar, was a lengthy one, and uncongenial in many respects Dealing with charges against six young men of unlawfully carnally knowing a girl under the ago of 16 years, his Honor Said there was no doubt that this kind of immorality was becoming very frequent His own experience, and that of other judges throughout the Dominion, was that pursuit of young girls by men wm becoming very frequent. Whether it was the allowing of young men and girte to go out together without control or whether a knowledge of the human body was not imparted, or whether there was no attempt at guidance, there was no, doubt that this kind of immorality was very prevalent. The total absence of control by parents of their children was in very marked evidence. George Foster Brown was sentenced to 12 months for theft from the person. Edward Michael Ward, alias Edward Taylor, for housebreaking and theft, was ordered to ho returned to uhe Burnham Industrial School. William Cooper, on two charges of Forgery and uttering, was committed to the Salvation Army Home. Alfred Robinson and Edward Watson appeared on oharges of theft at Greymouth, and Oliver Robinson on a charge of theft and receiving stok-n property. Each of the Robinsons was sentenced to six months, and Watson to three months. Jas. Bartley, for forgery and uttering of a cheque for £23, received six months, and Joseph Robinson, with several aliases, was sentenced to four years for assault and beryMay 14. In tho Supreme Court to-day the CvU*e against Robert James Wright, charged with attempting to carnally know a g'rl five years of age was continued. The 'jury after 20 minutes' retirement found the prisoner- not guilty John Maine, who va: convicted of entering a dwelling house by night, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The trial of Walter Richard Sadler on a charge of unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage, was commenced. For the Crown the evidence was similar to that given in the lower court. The defence was that tho act was one of indecency only, and lhat io iji-itnimont was used, and that thero was no intention to commit a crime. , May 15. At the Supremo Court to-day Wm. F. 'Taplinar and William Daviee were acquitted on a charge of carnally knowing a trirl umder 16 year<? of age. Ernest Edward Needham, for forginitr and uttering a cheque for £5, was sentenced to two and a-half years' imprisonment. The hearing of tl i 0 Sadler case was continued this morjiinp. In summinsr up, Mr Justice Denniston said there were two issues for the jury: whether

the accused unlawfully used an instrument, or whether he indecently assaulted the girl. The jury, after an absence of nearly three hours, returned a verdict of " Guilty." Sentence was deferred. May 16. At the criminal sittings to-day Walter R. Sadler, who had been convicted of using an instrument for an unlawful purpose, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. George Weston was convicted for a similar offence, but sentence was deferred pending a decision on a point raised as to whether the girl's evidence was corroborated.