SUPREME COURT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 88, 20 May 1914, Page 10

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSION. CRAYTHORNE ACQUITTED. The case of C. R. Craythorne, charged with-stealing six sheep, the property of W. A. Parnham, of Broomfields, was concluded after THE SUN went to press ; " yesterday afternoon, and resulted in the -acquittal of the accused. His Honour Mr Justice Denniston and Mr P. S. K. Macassey prosecuted on behalf of the Crown. The .accused was represented by Messrs S., j G. Raymond, K.C., and W. J. Hunter. '' The jury was in retirement for about three hours,'and returned with a verdict •of not guilty. His Honour deferred sentence on the charge on which, the -accused had previously been convicted until to-day. Bail was allowed as previously. - ' (Proceeding). TO-DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. ■CRAYTHORNE'S SENTENCE. t ' , A FINE OF FIFTY POUNDS. - When the Court resumed this morning, Craythorne was set forward for' sentence/ Addressing the Court on behalf of tiie accused, Mr Raymond said: that Craythorne had started work ,at thirteen years of age as a farm labour-; '.cr, and had been engaged in such work ,) - for seven years. He had started life, with no means, but had got together a, small competence, chiefly by. thrift and hard work, and partly by profits from ■ , farms he had sold. He commenced! 1 fanning at Prebbleton, and had had' V , .farms in several until he took; / the property near Amberley which was! v concerned in the present case. This,

had been his iirst venture as a sheep-: : farmer, as lie had been previously en- • • .gaged in agriculture. He had been; happily married foj eleven years, and had a wife and, three children. He, had always borne a most exemplary; character for sobriety > hard thrift. Counsel handed letters , from ministers in the various parishes in ' wliioii the accused had lived, certifying -as to his character. . •• •" His Honour: These letters have been written since this case came on? Mr Raymond: Yes, your Honour. 'They were written since the .commencer v ment of the trouble. Counsel went on - to, remark that on one charge of stealing six sheep, the jury had acquitted *■ -sie ' accused: * Another jury had dis- ' .sßgr£ed on another charge, and the only • was for theft of two sheep ■'which the accused had admitted. His Honour said that the jury had no vi- but to convict the accused . on - ' vizis' charge. At the same time the fact - /fhat 'it, had 'disagreedTwith regard to the' other sheep showed that at least " .some Of the jurymen did not believe /the accused''s explanation. ' So far as yesterday 's case-was concerned " the evidence against thi accused was not so strong,, and he could understand the. verdict of not guilty. However, Ho could not look on the acquittal as '•s-'-'-any- ground for believing the accused's littary to be true. That was a matter for ,his consideration. "Jcfj* Kaymond suggested that in taking i - ' intb consideration the question of pun- \ .aslhnent/ his Honour should remember! thatthe accused had lived in a state of ' , mental and moral agony for months - 1 .past. He thought that the case was One ?'"in which, the ends. of justice raiglit be j r-; ' so Tie' penalty other than impri- ( \ \»Bonment. . was no record against the accused his

" v - instructions were that both Boyce and Tarnham, and accused ?s next-door. neighbours) had lost some 200 sheep each. He also had instructions that i • when the accused had been liying in - another district, sheep had been reported missing and when he left the trouble ceased. €aaes f -of-Bheep-stealmg. were * very- hard -to-detect,'- and still more diffi.-. culf to 'prove to a jury. ~ * 4 . AN INDIVIDUAL CASE. % / His Honour said that he .was going ' to treat the case as an individual case. Every sheep ffwmer, of course, wished to see an example made of a sheep thief, ' but-he could not altogether sympathise . ; with the view that he should deal with the present case except as individual. Had the accused "been found guilty on two charges he would certainly have ; imposed a severe term of imprisonment, ftrit was a case in which he would like to have the opinions of his brother judges, . but he did-not wish to keep the-aeeused - iii any further suspense. The circum- - stances of the case were very peculiar. > Mr Raymond said that he had not ' ' heard oL ! the suggestion that 400 sheep had been stolen until that moment. He had furnished the police with all the evidence that he proposed to call, and gave them ample opportunity to make enquiries. _ Mr Macassey said that the accused had simply sold a large number of skins, and it had been found impossible to trace the sales. About 80 skins were ■ ; said to have been sold, but the dealers , had no record of them". „*'V Mr Ravmond said that it was impos- > jjible that the. accused, should have stolen sheep and 'killed, them for their skins; ■ • ' SUSPICION NOT EVIDENCE; His Honour said that the difficulty was that there was a man well off, ;yet deliberately taking another man's i>roperty". • : • Mr Raynibnd asked if the Crown ?ug-. •- gested that the accused had stolen 400 sheep. ■ : Mr Macassev: All I can say is . that two farmers lost 1200 sheep each during the time they were his neighbours. His Honour said that he did not think he could punish the accused without *• pi oof than that, lie went on to say that he had given the matter a great deal of consideration, and lie did

not think he could assume that the accused had stolen other-sheep than those in regard to which he had been convicted. He was not prepared to saythat the mere fact that other men took slieep would justify him in punishing the accused, either directly or indirectly, for offences of which he had not been convicted.

ACCUSED'S GOOD CHARACTER. There had been two charges against the accused. On one charge he had been convicted, and on the other the jury had disagreed, except, with rgardto two sheep which he had admitted having taken. The practice of the court was to take into consideration a man's character in certain circumstances, and he thought that this was a case in which he could very well do so. There was no doubt that the accused had suffered a great deal of mental torture, and he was entitled to take that into consideration. It was natural that sheep farmers should desire to see a sheep thief made an example of, but this was a case where there were other circumstances to consider. He was not prepared to send the accused to gaol, and thus sacrifice him merely to satisfy that natural feeling of the farmers. The accused would be fined £SO.

ALLEGED CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. The court was cleared for the hearing of a charge against Charles Henderson, an elderly man, of having carnally known his step-daughter, aged 12 years 8 months. Mr W. J. Hunter appeared for the accused. A previous trial had resulted in a, disagreement by the jury. (Proceeding.)