THE PERJURY CHARGES

Waikato Times, Volume 88, Issue 13458, 12 April 1917, Page 4

THE PERJURY CHARGES

hearing resumed at

HAMILTON.

The adjourned session of the Supreme Court was re-opened this morning befoie his Honor, Mr Justice Hosking, when the hearing of the perjury charges against natives in connection with the Rua trial at Auckland was continued. It will be remembered that at the previous sitting of the Court the Juries disagreed in connection with the charges against Tutara Kaiuka and Tahu Hirawano, new trials being ordered in both instances. In the case against the former prisoner the jury unanimously found that the much discussed first shot, fired at Mangapohatu on the 2nd April, 1916, had not been fired by the police. The fact that the jury disagreed in the cases just referred to means that the respective trials of the four natives charged have yet to be dealt with by the Court. The first prisoner to bd arraigned this morning was Tioke Hakaipare, who was charged that he committed perjury on or about the 7th day of June, 1916, by swearing that Constable Skinner was the man who fired the first shot at Maungapohatu, and that he fired the said shot from a revolver point blank at Rua.

Mr Mays appeared for the Crown, and prisoner, who pleaded "Not guilty," was represented by Mr J. R. Lundon. The right of challenge in the matter of jurors was freely exercised, 24 by the Crown and 6 by the defence. All waiting jurors were discharged. Mr Mays, in opening the case for the Crown, addressed the jury relevant to the facts of the case, after which evidence on the lines of the previous cases was called in support.