Supremee Court.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 406, 2 September 1869, Page 3

Supremee Court.

CRIMINAL SITTINGS. Wednesday, Sept. 1. (Before Mr Justice Gresson and Common Juries.) RAPE. Joseph William Jones alias Sydney Jones, 20, was indicted for having committed a rape on a girl named Mary Marshall. The prisoner pleaded " Not Guilty." Mr J. B. Dale was chosen foreman of the jury. Evidence having been given, the jury retired, and after an absence of ten minutes, returned into Court with a verdict of Guilty. Hia Honor sentenced the prisoner to six years' penal servitude. The Court then adjourned until 10 o'clock thia (Thursday) morning. This Day. His Honor took his seat precisely at ten o'clock. | OBTAINING MONEY BY FALSE PRETENCES. William Henry Wykes, 49, was indicted for obtaining money by false pretences from William Alfred Crooks, on the 3rd of June last. The prisoner pleaded "Guilty," and said nothing in extenuation. ( Hia Honor: William Henry Wykes, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining money by false pretences. The sentence ot the Court if, taking into consideration the time that you have already passed in prison, that you be imprisoned for nine calendar montha, with hard labour BOBBERY FROM THE PERSON. Charles O'Brien waß indicted on a charge of stealing a watch, chain, two coins, and a piece of greenstone, from Wm. Joynt, on the 19-hof April last. The prisoner pleaded " Not Guilty." Mr James Wood was chosen foreman of the jury. Mr Duncan prosecuted on the part of the Crown; the prisoner waa undefended. Harry Feast : I am a detective officer in Christchurch. I arrested prisoner on the 3 1st ot* July, on another charge. I searched him, and found the watch which I now produce. I then charged him with stealing that watch. He said, '■ All right." William Joynt: I remember the 19th of April last. I was in Christchurch ou that day. I left town to go home in the early part of the afternoon. I was then wearing a watch and chain, a piece of greenstone, and two coins. I remember getting a lift in a dray driven by the prisoner up the North Road. I went in the dray aa far as Mr Tiach's farm. I got out there, and walked as far as Treleaven's. I missed my watch, chain, and appendages between the "place where I left the prisoner and Kaiapoi. I missed them before getting to Kaiapoi. The number of my watch was 6722. The watch produced is mine. The chain at present attached to the watch is not mine. I reported the circumstance to the police on the Ist of May. j By prisoner : I did not know you before the day in question. | By the Court : I cannot say whether I had I the watch on me when I got into the dray. I am Borry to say I was very much intoxicated. William Mellor : lama contractor, living in Kaiapoi. The prisoner was in my employment at the time of the big flood. I recollect Mr Joynt complaining of having lost a watch and chain about the time when the Duke was here. I saw prisoner about that time. I asked him if he knew anything about Mr Joynt's watch, telling him that Mr^ Joynt had ridden up in his dray, and desired me to ask him if he knew anything about it. He said he did not. I don't know Mr Joynt's watch. By prisoner : When I asked you about the watch, I didn't give you any number. Gustave Tisch : I am son of Phillip Tisch, farmer, North Roa 1. The prisoner waa in my father's employment. I saw a watch and chain in his possession in the month of April. I cannot identify the watch produced. Previously to my seeing the watch and chain in his possession, prisoner purchaaed a watch from my brother. I cannot recognise it either. By prisoner : On the day in question two drays left my father's house, one in your charge, and the other ia charge of Samuel Candy. I never saw him with a watch in his possession. He might have had one without my seeing it. By- the Foreman : The second watch which I saw with the prisoner had a yellow

chain attached to it. The chain attaohed to my brother's watch was a white one. By prigoner (through the Court): I cannot siy whether the yellow chain was a linked or twisted one. This was the c*se for the Crown. The prisoner requested that Mr Phillip Tisch should be callel to speak as to character. Mr Ti«ch was :.ot forthcoming, however, when called on. His Honor told prisoner he should have subpcsnaed Mr Tisch, and so compelled him to attend. Prisoner said he wai unable to do so, having no money. He wished to call a winess named Kennedy, to depose tliat Sam Candy had given him a watch for the purpose of selling it about the time the Duke was in Canterbury. This witness said he knew nothing whatever about Candy or the prisoner, and had never been given a watch to sell. Prisoner, in defence, stated that he had exchanged watches with Sam Candy, who, he believed, had gone to the West Coast. He was not aware that the watch which he had got from Candy was st*>len property, for if he ha i been aware of this, wns it likely that he would wear it publicly in the vicinity of the place where it had been stolen ? His Honor summed up ; and tlie jury, after a short absence, returned into Court with a verdict of " Not Guilty." The prisoner, who is at present undergoing sentence on a charge of larceny, was then removed. OBTAINING OOODS by false pretences. Margaret Mary Belinda Todd, 39, was indicted for obtaining goods, by means of false representations, from John Pnscoe Olliver, of Lyttelton, on the 19th of June last. The prisoner, who wept, pleaded " Guilty." She had nothing to say in mitigation of punishment. Hia Honor: Margaret Mary Belinda Todd, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining property by false pretences. I am placed, in your case, in the difficulty that I generally feel when I have to pass sentence upon females that are not utterly abandoned, because there is, unfortunately, in this province no proper place of confinement for such females. I am obliged, therefore, to pass a much lighter sentence than the crime very generally, under ordinary circumstances, would lead me to pass. The offence which you have pleaded guilty to ia one of a serious character in the eye of the law; but, under the circumstances, I cannot help looking at it in this light — that the fact of a person who ia not utterly abandoned being forced to consort with females who are, very much aggravates the punishment. The sentence of the Court is, that you be imprisoned in the common gaol at Christchurch for three calendar months, computed from the Ist September instant, aud that you be kept at hard labour. obtaining goods by false pbetences. John Martin Wylie was indicted for obtaining goods from Samuel Goodwin, by means of false pretences, on the Sth November, 1868. Tha prisoner pleaded '** Not Guilty." Mr Duncan prosecuted on the part of the Crown, sind Mr Joynt appeared for the defence. Mr Peter McLeod was chosen foreman of the jury. Samuel Goodwin : I keep an accommodation house at the Rangitata. I recollect the sth yov. 1868. The prisoner waa at my house on that day. He said he was going to stay at my place for the night ; that he was on his way to Mr McDonald's Btation for some sheep for Mr Dobson. He said that his tea, bed, and breakfast were to be charged to Mr Dobson, of Mount Hutt Station, who would pay for them. I believed him, and prisoner had tea, a bed, and breakfast. He also said that the livery was to be charged to Mr Dobson, and I supplied him with hay and oats for his horse. I have not been paid for them. I was induced to supply the prisoner, because I believed that Mr Dobson would pay for them. I would not have supplied him with the goods, as he was a stranger, but for his representations that Mr Dobson had authorised him to order them. By Mr Joynt : I had never seen the prisoner before that night to my knowledge. My sister kept the house before me. lam not aware that he had been to the house while she kept it. It is unusual to ask a stranger for caah beforehand. I didn't ask Wylie for cash when he came. As soon as he came to my house, he said he was going for sheep for Mr Dobson, and that Mr Dobson would be responsible for what I supplied him wiih, or something to that effect. I swear that I would otherwise have asked him for the money before supplying him with tea, because he was a stranger. On being further questioned by Mr Joynt and the Court, the witness said he would have furnished the goods to the prisoner if he had never mentioned Mr Dobson's name, of course in the expectation that they would be paid for. Witness adhering to this answer, the Judge directed the jury that they must be satisfied that it was upon the prisoner's false representation concerning Mr Dobson that he got the goods. Mr Duncan said he was prepared to prove, and Mr Joynt that he was prepared to admit, tbat the representation about Mr Dobson was false. The jury said they were satisfied that the goods were obtained on the representation as to Mr Dobson. His Honor thereupon allowed the case to proceed. Arthur Dobson deposed that the prisoner left his employment on the Sth November, 1868. Never authorised him to get goods from the prosecutor. By Mr Joynt: Wylie waß twice in my employment. He was the best man I had. 1 always considered him to be an honest and well-conducted man. Mr Duncan replied to the evidence, and'

Mr Joynt having addressed the jury for the defem-e, His Honor summed up. Unless the jury were satisfied that Goodwin would never have supplied the prisoner with the goods but for his representations with regard to Mr Dobson, they could not convict. The jury, after some deliberation, returned a verdict of " Not Gtulty." Mr Duncan said he would not proceed with the other charge against Wylie, who was thereupon discharged. the bigamy case. Thomas Braithwaite was remanded to Nelson for trial on a charge of bigamy, the offence having been committed on the West Coast. TKUE BILLS. The Grand Jury returned true bills in the following cases:— Thomas Chave, concealing property as a bankrupt; Eliza Lambert, stabbing; Patrick Fitzgibbon, conspiracy to defraud; Thomas Coney, conspiracy to defraud. The Grand Jury were then discharged. , STABBIHG. Eliza Lambert was found guilty on the above charge. Sentence deferred.