SUPREME COURT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 9, 6 March 1930, Page 6

SUPREME COURT

THE MASTEETON SESSION. MASTEETQW, March 5. A. J. Buckley, motor driver, now of Wellington, was found guilty at the Supreme Court to-day on a charge of perjury. Mr Justice Ostler presided. The charge arose out of a statement made by accused at the inquea on the death of one, Emma Smith, as the result of a motor accident at a Masterton street corner. At the inquest accused stated that only three people, including himself, occupied the front seat of the car and that one of the passengers was not sitting on a man’s knee..

Evidence was given to-day by several witnesses that there were three passengers and the driver (Buckley) in the front seat and one of the passengers, a young lady, was sitting on a man's knee. The jury, after two hours retirement, returned a verdict of o-uilty, with a strong recommendation to mercy on account of the accused’s youth and his not realising the seriousness of the offence. Three charges of obstructing the course of justice preferred against Buckley were adjourned until to-day. A verdict of not guilty was returned in the case of William Baron, a farmer, of Pigeon Bush, who was charged with stealing live sheep, the property of Mr Morgan Davies, a neighbour.