SUPREME COURT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1160, 30 October 1917, Page 5

SUPREME COURT.

1 ■ CRIMINAL SESSION. The criminal sessions of the Supreme Court were continued in Christchurch yesterday, his Honour Mr Justice Sim presiding. Mr S. G. Raymond, K.C., prosecuted 1 on behalf of the Crown. f INDECENT ASSAULTS. 2 Charles Henry Burrows pleaded not guilty to six counts of indecent assault ■ on girls at Kaikoura in July last. j Mr Hunt appeared for the prisoner. j The jury returned a verdict of guilty . on all counts. This morning Burrows was charged j with further similar offences in July f last. A plea of guilty was entered. ] Mr Hunt said that Burrows had been -, in gaol for three months as he had not j been allowed bail. His Honour said prisoner had been ', convicted of six charges of indecent assault and had pleaded guilty to three ij further charges. Tie would be sen- , i fenced to nine months' imprisonment pi on each charge, the sentences to be ! cumulative. 'I James Dwyer pleaded not guilty to a . charge of indecently assaulting a little ] girl at Beckenham en September 5. The jury after a retirement of 40 minutes returned to court with a verdict of guilty, with a recommendation to mercy. j This morning Dwyer was presented for se7itpncc. £ Mr Raymond said there were no pre- " vious convictions against him. A sentence of six months' imprisonment was imposed. ALLEGED THEFT OF TIN. John Griffin, for whom Mr Donnelly appeared, was charged with having, on August 4, stolen loewt of ingot tin and 2cwt of lead-headed nails, valued at £2.13 10/-, the property of some person unknown. Alternative counts of "receiving" were also preferred. He pleaded not guilty. In opening the case, Mr Raymond said the accused had been in the employ of Taylor and Oakley for about 20 . years, and had been for some time foreman. Christopher Fottrell, painter, said that accused spoke to him in respect to : the tin, and told him he had got it as . a bargain. He asked witness to sell it f for him. Witness said that the reason i he handled the tin and not the accused, . was that the accused said it would not > do for him to handle it, as his firm £ would expect him to give it the adl vantage or any bargains that came his - way. By doing that he would not get . the money. That was why accused im- - pressed on witness the necessity for ( secrecy. Accused said it would pay him to sell it at 2/- per lb. He suggest- - ed to witness that he should say that he had come across the bargain him- . self. Before the arrival of the tin i accusel did not know how much he was . getting. Witness communicated with : a number of probable buyers. Witness i went to see the accused, but he was not at home. There was a quantity of tin j lying loose in a shed and a couple of [ kegs of lead-headed nails. On the following day witness sorted the tin out t and weighed it. On August 4 witness > engaged a carrier to take the tin to sell. He saw the accused, and told him that . buyers wanted a more satisfactory exr planation of the ownership. Accused replied that he thought such a difficulty £ might arise. Witness suggested that 1 the matter had better stand over till - the following week, and accused assent- £ ed. Witness took the tin to his home, - and when unloading it there, two dc- . tectives arrived. Together they went to accused's house and saw the accused. t Accused said it was purely a business ) transaction, and he did not see why he . should tell them how or where he got the tin. He said that it was a perfectly j honest transaction. Witness handed ; over the tin and the nails to the police. To Mr Donnelly: When the accused - said the transaction was an honest one he did not doubt him in the slightest. Henry Oakley, a member of the firm i of Taylor and Oakley, said the accused ! had been in the employ of the firm for - about 20 years, and had been foreman t for about five years. 3 To Mr Donnelly: Tin had never been t missed from witness's factory. It - would take 10 or 15 years for a man to steal the quantity concerned in this case 1 from, the factory without it being 3 missed. i His Honour: Your firm does not - make any claim to the tin found in his 3 possession? ' Witness: I would like to, but I can't. t (Laughter.) John Morgan Taylor, a member of the ; firm of Taylor and Oakley, said the ae--3 cused was a shareholder in the com- ) pany. The tin would probably be ae- - cumulated in small quantities. Such , a large amount as that concerned here t could not be taken without it being t known. ! His Honour: You arc assuming, for !• the purposes of that answer, that the tin was stolen? Witness: Yes. His Honour: That has not been proved yet. Robert McDiarmid, formerly in the employ of Taylor and Oakley for about seven years, said he had charge of the keys of the factory. The accused went back at night to work. Accused had a key. Accused did not work in the factory alone at night. Mr Oakley, jun., was with him. He had never seen tin , go away from the factory. J r Arthur F. Drayton, manager for I Ashby, Bergh & Co., said his firm stockl ed ingots of tin similar to those pro- ' duced. They sometimes supplied tin to Taylor and Oakley. Police evidence was given as to the statements made by the accused when , interviewed. Accused said Fottrell was ' selling the tin on his behalf. In reply r to a question as to who owned the tin ' accused said it was a matter of business. This closed the case for the Crown. Mr Donnelly asked that his Honour should direct that there was no case to . go to the jury either on the ground , that the tin was stolen or that there , was guilty knowledge on the part of the j accused. There was not a single cirj cumstance in this case that pointed inevitably to the fact of theft. , Mr Raymond said there were some circumstances in the case that should be properly put to the jury. 3 His Honour said there was nothing in . the accused's possession of the goods 3 necessarily inconsistent with honest act quisition by the accused. Taking all the - circumstances together all the Crown t raised was a mere suspicion and nothing - more. There was nothing to warrant the t jury in finding a verdict of guilty against . the prisoner. He therefore thought it 1 was his duty to withdraw the case from the jury and direct them to acquit the prisoner. I The jury returned a verdict aceording- ' ly and the accused was discharged. j ALLEGED ARSON. Silas James Delvin McAlister, a youth for whom Mr Cassidy appeared, pleaded not guilty to a charge of having comi mitted arson by burning down a"building . at Dunsandel on October 12. An alter- , native count of mischief was added. (Proceeding.)