SUPREME COURT

Otago Witness, Issue 3549, 28 March 1922, Page 43

SUPREME COURT

AUCKLAND, March 22 Several prisoners were sentenced at the Supreme Court to-day by Mr Justice Herdman. Charles Henry Glover, on two charges of forgery at Auckland in October, 1920, and breach of a probation order, was sentenced to two years’ hard labour. Addressing the prisoner, his Honor, referring to a plea for leniency, said: “Regarding your war record, that is no excuse for the committal of offences. As a Minister of the Crown, I had some experience with soldiers, and I found that, most of them who returned from the war led reputable lives. I should say 90 per cent of them settled down and were now reputable citizens. Your war record is no excuse, and there is no reason why I should abstain from punishing you. Men must obey their probation order. I understand that many who are placed on probation treat such leniency very lightly. Let. this be a warning to all those at present on probation. It is not to be abused.” “The offence you committed against your sister is a most disgusting one,” his Honor said to the Maori, Hohepa T'anu Fomare, who was found guilty of incest at Whangarei. “If you were a European I would have given you a long sentence, but you are a Maori, and I suppose I must consider your peculiar ideas of morality. I shall send you to gaol for a short period. You will be imprisoned for six months with hard labour. The prisoner asked his Honor to give him probation. “No, I shall not do that,” said his Honor. Other sentences were: James Francis M’Mullan, breaking, entering, and theft, three months’ hard labour; _ Norman Stewart Ward, breaking, entering, and theft, three years’ probation; Andrew Peter Jensen, forgery, six months’ reformative treatment at the end of his present sentence of two years’ reformative treatment.; Alfred Hinton, two' charges of forgery and uttering at Auckland and two similar offences at Whangarei, 18 months’ hard labour. GISBORNE, March 21. In the Supreme Court Vernon Winfield Higgins lAnkborn was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on a charge of bigamy. The case was deferred 12 ’ months ago to give the accused an opportunity of contracting a legal marriage with the woman he had bigamously married; but the woman refused to marry him, and the judge said he thought she was right. MASTERTON. March 24. In the Supreme Court to-dav Percy Martin Carmichael and Eric Malcolm Bell, motor mechanic, both of Masterton, were found guilty that on or about the night of Saturday, .January they did break and enter me PaekakariM railway refreshment rooms and steal a Chubb safe containing 127 sovereigns, £sl in silver, and sundry documents of a total value of £204. the property of Thomas Fisher Thompson, of Hawera. Sentence was deferred. March 26. In the Supreme Court on Saturday Ernest Robert Ward, a carrier, of Masterton, was sentenced .to one month’s imprisonment, without hard labour, for failing to keep proper account books during the three years prior to his bankruptcy and for contracting debts which he knew at the time that, he had no reasonable prospect of paying together with other debts. BLENHEIM. March 23. John Emlyn Thomas was charged at the Supreme Court with the manslaughter of Rose Stafford on September 24 by the alleged negligent driving- of a motor ca.r. It was .alleged that, the accused was under the influence of at the time of the accident. The jury, after a retirement of about five hours, returned a verdict of not guilty.