SUPREME COURT SITTINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3673, 5 August 1924, Page 26

SUPREME COURT SITTINGS.

AUCKLAND, July 27. The criminal sessions have opened. There are only 16 cases. The most serious is a charge of arson against Thomas Keaton in connection with a fire at Northcote. Mr Justice Stringer, in his charge to the Grand Jury, said that the case depended on circumstantial evidence. Accused had been in financial difficulties, and had had the bailiffs in. The insurance was -close on £2OOO, and there had been two fires in the same building in January last. The Grand Jury found no bill in the ■charge of manslaughter against William George Iveir, arising from the death of a man named Neary, who, defendant said, tried to enter his house while drunk. Keir pushed him out, and he fell, ms head striking the kerbing, resulting m death. July 31. At the Supreme Court, Maurice Burns Ward was charged was an assault on his sister so as to cause actual bodily harm; also with common assault, In the lower court proceedings last Thursday, Florence Ida Bolton, the woman concerned, said that she didn’t remember the night when she received the injuries to her head. She remembered going out to post a letter, and the next thing she remembered was that she was in the hospital. Her brother was very drunk that evening. She w T as now living with him, and had no reason to fear him. The medical evidence was to the effect that the loss of memory might be due to the injuries received. The defence was that accused was drunk, and did not know what he was doing. A verdict of not guilty was returned, and accused was discharged. The burglary at Avondale Railway Station on the morning of June 15, when the safe was blown open and £SB 12s 4d stolen, was retold in the Supreme Court when Esmond Edwin Rodbume Lutterill, aged 35, was charged with breaking and entering and theft, and alternatively with having unlawfully received the sum of money mentioned. After nearly four hours’ retirement, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of receiving only. Sentence was deferred. August 1. Thomas Heaton appeared before Air Justice Herdinan in the Supreme Court charged with having set on fire his own premises in Queen street, Northcote, on March 23. He pleaded not guilty. After a trial occupying nearly two days the jury failed to agree. A new trial was ordered for the next session. August 2. In the Supreme Court to-day a man named William ICaire pleaded guilty to breaking and entering and theft, and to seven ""charges of forgery and uttering at Wbangarei. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Mr Justice Stringer

said a recommendation would be made to the Prisons Board that if the prisoner disclosed the whereabouts of some £2OO which had apparently been planted the sentence might be reviewed. Eric John Mercer, a young man, was given probation for three years for forgery and uttering and false pretences. John Onslow Wheeler, for theft from a warehouse, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. Edwin Esmond Rodbourn Luttrell, for receiving stolen money, was sentenced to three year s in gaol. WELLINGTON, July 28. At the Supreme Court to-day Sir Robert Stout sentenced Percy Arnold Mortensen, aged 17 years, to two years’ reformative detention on two charges of carnal knowledge. Albert Henry Hughes, on charges of indecent assault on a male and a female, was sentenced to two years and three years respectively, and declared an habitual criminal. His Honor said it was a sad ease. In 1912 prisoner was sentenced to 20 years for rape, and the Prisons Board had released him after the sentenced had half expired. Now he was before the court again. There should be an institution between the' gaol and the asylum for such cases. July 29. The criminal session of the Supreme Court opened before Mr Justice Reed today. In his charge to the Grand Jury, Mr Justice Reed referred to the long calendar, but said that did not necessarily mean any great increase in crime. In regard to the charge of murder, .n which a man was alleged to have been fatally stabbed during a fight with me accused, he said he would not refer to it at length. It was a. matter for the jury to consider. Parlane Ross Walker pleaded guilty to the sale of chattels already under a bill of sale to the Crown, the offence having taken place at Auckland. Counsel said accused had acted in good faith in the matter, and had pleaded guilty in order to save* the country the expense of a prolonged trial. Prisoner was placed on probation ihfc terms of which were held over. July 30. At the Supreme Court G. A. Jennesa, jeweller, was acquitted on two charges of theft of a diamond pendant, and was convicted of obstructing the course of justice, with a strong recommendation to leniency on the ground that accused had net acted with the intention of benefiting himself. Sentence was deferred. Cyril Wagstaff pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault and was remanded for sentence. Julv 31. In the charges against Joseph William Moore, a labourer, at the Supreme Court it was alleged that, accused stole a suit case and the contents, rallied at £B2, and a second suit case and a cakestand. It was stated that the suit cases were taken from clubs and hotels in the city. The total value of the goods stolen was £l4O. About £l2O worth had been recovered-. The police searched accused's residence, and found the stolen articles there. Accused said that, he had bought them from a man who had gone away on the Moeraki. A verdict was returned of guilty of theft of a suit case and guilty of receiving the other goods knowing them to have been stolen. Sentence was deferred. In the charge against Frederick Courteney for pocket-picking while a man held his overcoat, accused's defence was an alibi. The case is unfinished. George Arthur Jenness, who was found guilty of wilfully attempting to defeat the ends of justice in connection with the purchase of a stolen diamond pendant valued at £65, was fined £2O. Counsel for accused said prisoner had been guilty of a mistaken sense of his obligation to the woman who had sold the pendant to him, and had not realised his obligations to tbe police. His character was excellent, and he had been in business in the city for 27 years. August 1. Frederick Courtenay was found guilty on two charges of theft from the person The crime took place some months ago, when the police arrested a man named Bcurke, who is now in gaol on the same charge, and Christopher Martis, a negro, who absconded when on bail. Courtenay was found by the police a few weeks ago, and after a chase was arrested. He will be sentenced to-morrow. The court is now hearing the case in which Julia Ruddleston and Frederick Rayner Pinny are charged with the unlawful use of an instrument on a single woman named Lucy Pope. August 2. Iloy Leslie Jorgen Neilsen was fined £2O, in default three months’ imprisonment, for carnal knowledge. The girl, who was under 16 years of age, introduced herself to accused and acted as temptress. Cyril Wagstaff (indecent assault) was admitted to probation for three years, and was ordered to pay £ls 15s costs. Both prisoners are married men with children. In neither case did the judge think that anv inference of damage to the girls’ moral fibre could be drawn. One of the girls was not unused to having relations with men for the purpose of pocket-picking. A period of reformative detention would be the best thing for them. Frank Ansell (forgery of telegrams whereby a woman was deprived of her savings) was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. Joseph William Moore (theft) received 18 months' imprisonment, and Leonard H. Pery (theft of two motor cars) was given reformative detention for a period not exceeding three years.