UP FOR SENTENCE

Wairarapa Age, 6 May 1924, Page 3

UP FOR SENTENCE

FORGING AND UTTERING. POUR MONTHS FOR SIMMONDS. (“The Age” Special.) Wellington, May s.—Charged with forgery and uttering at Masterton,- the young man named Leslie Simmonds appeared for sentence before Mr Justice Chapman in the Supreme Court today. He was represented by Mr P. W. Jackson, who appealed for leniency. At the time of the trouble, said counsel, Simmonds, who is 23 years of age and has a young Maori wife, was employed as a linesman at Masterton. Hi‘s Honour: That docs not matter very much. The fact that a man does not think of his wife and children before rushing into crime does not help very much. He could not expect such a plea to go forward. Counsel went on to say that accused had contracted a debt which had preyed on his mind to such an extent that he had been induced to commit the crime of forgery. He had actually paid certain hospital fees owing out of these proceeds. He was aware that there had been a previous conviction for theft some time ago, but since then Simmonds had and he had been in no trouble during the past six years. He urged probation. “I cannot agree that this is a case for probation,” replied his Honour. “The fact that it was a planned crime and not merely an impulsive act did not improve matters in the least. The ends of justice can only be met by imposing a term of imprisonment.” A sentence was inflicted of four months’ with hard labour. A SERIOUS CHARGE. Smiling, and apparently quite unaware of the gravity of the extremely serious charge against him, Owen Richard Healey, 17| years of age, the lad who was apprehended at Masterton recently for alleged rape on a married woman, the wife of his employer at Bongotea, stepped into the dock for sentence. Prisoner was not represented by counsel, and he had nothing to say. The police report, said the Crown Prosecutor (Mr Maeassay), was to the effect that prisoner did not appreciate his position. He did not take it at all seriously. The crime had been deliberately planned and carried out.

His Honour declared that he would defer sentence until later in the week.