Criminal Cases Heard In Supreme Court.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18545, 20 August 1928, Page 10

Criminal Cases Heard In Supreme Court.

THE criminal sessions of the Supreme Court opened to-day, before Mr Justice Adams and a jury of twelve.

Twelve cases were set down to be dealt with. They included one charge of bigamy, two of forgery, one of causing death through negligently driving a motor-cycle, one of attempting to break a counting house with intent to commit a crime, fifteen of carnal knowledge, and one of indecent assault on a male.

Addressing the Grand Jury, his Honor said that there -were twelve indictments to come up, all of them being somewhat simple. In the case against a man named George Creasey, accused had in England a wife whom he brought out to New Zealand. The couple became separated, whether by mutual consent or otherwise. Accused advertised for some woman to consort with him in the way of friendship and some silly woman answered the advertisement. Accused, it was said, went through a form of marriage with her. The “case against James Neil, of alleged forgery, related to the passing off of two cheques, one for £6 6s and the other for £4. It was in dealing with the second one that accused met disaster. William Ernest Cook was charged with breaking a counting house, with intent to commit a crime. On a Saturday afternoon accused was found doing something with a tool to the office of a shop in Armagh Street. The circumstances were open to the possible view that there was no intention of crime. There seemed to have been some history of drink, and the case might well have been brought before a Magistrate on a charge of being unlawfully on premises, or something of the sort. Another case, a charge of indecent assault on a male at the tepid baths, was more serious. There were seven cases against men of carnal knowledge of girls under the age of sixteen. Some girls escaped from the Girls’ Home at Burwood late in January, and it was alleged that the seven accused had carnal knowledge of them on at least one occasion.

In regard to the charge against Trevor Walter Moss of causing death through negligently driving a motorcycle, his Honor said that on the night of April 19, at about 7.30 o’clock, accused was proceeding along Woodham Road on a motor-cycle. A young woman was riding pillion-fashion behind. The evidence showed that at one point the road had been opened up for a sewer connection. A trench was opened up, and on both sides was the usual accumulation of material taken from it. The material and the trench extended for about fifteen feet. At the time of the happening the place was stated to have been roped off and lighted by four lamps. Accused, it was said, came down the road with only an electric torch in his hand. His speed was high. The machine struck the first embankment of material 2ft 6in high, cleared both the trench and the heap on the other side, and landed after a leap of about twentv feet. The motor-cycle came to rest shortly afterwards. The woman died within fortyeight hours.

The Grand Jury returned a true bill n every case.

Adjourned Till Friday. James Neil pleaded guilty to a charge that on May 24, at Christchurch, he forged a cheque for £6 6s drawn on the Bank of New Zealand and purporting to have been signed by R. A. Walsh, with intent that it should be acted upon as genuine. A second charge concerned a cheque forged on

May 25, for £4, drawn on the Bank oi Australasia. Accused was remanded till Friday morning. A charge against a man of indecent assault on a male, to which he pleaded not guilty, was remanded till Friday. Pleaded Not Guilty. William Ernest Cook was charged that on February 18 he attempted to break into the engineering shop of Valentine Dudley Evanf, 138, Armagh Street, with intent to commit a crime. Mr Sargent appeared' for accused, who pleaded not guilty. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr A. T. Donnelly, said, that an employee named Bowers was back at the shop when he saw the shadow of someone against the frosted glass of the window. Bowers chased the man. who abandoned a bicycle and bag he had. When accused was arrested five months later he told Evans that, being a fitter at the Addington Workshops, he had no need to commit such an offence as alleged. He was drunk at the time, and had had no intention of theft. He admit* ted that he had attempted to open the window. There was no substantial evidence, added Mr Donnelly, to show that accused had intended to commit a crime once he got into the shop. Walter James Bowers, who was employed by Evans at the time, said that he saw someone against the frosted glass of the window. Witness stood up on a table to look through the dear portion of the glass. The man on the othef side said: “It’s all right. I’m sorry,” and then hurried away. Witness followed him down the passageway and threw a lump of iron at him There was an open lavatory near the door of the shop. Detective E. Thomas said that loss of the bicycle was reported to the police by accused’s wife that night. “ Accused was very frank about the matter,” said Mr Sargent, in his address to the jury. “If he had denied the charge, like any dishonest person would have done, it is probable that the case would never have come before the Court.” The jury, after a retirement of about a quarter of an hour, returned with a verdict of not guilty. The Court then adjourned till 10.15 a.m. to-morrow. GREYMOUTH CASES. Per Pres* Association. GREYMOUTH, August 20. Robert Sherriff Black, of Dunedin, was fined £2 with costs to-day for- purchasing opossum skins in the Grey district without a license. Jessie Eleanor Kennedy and Margaret Nelson, maternity nurses, were fined £1 each, with costs, for having more than one patient in their homes at the same time. At a sitting of the juvenile court a young man was committed for trial on a charge of indecently assaulting a little girl in a picture show.