SUPREME COURT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2300, 19 September 1908, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

BIENNIAL SITTINGS. The half-yearly sittings of the Supremo Court wore continued yesterday before His Honor Air. Justice Edwards. The first caso taken was tho charge of attempted milrder at Pakar.io, a full report of which appears elsewhere in tins issue. At its conclusion tho easos of Joseph Dante, for alleged theft, Joseph Johnston and James Keegan, for breaking' and entering, and James Garrety, for attempted theft from the person, woro proceeded with. ' ALLEGED THEFT. Joseph Dante was.ohargod with tho theft of. a. tin- trunk, containing wearing apparel arid other articles, tho property of. Win, Burnett, and a Is,) on a further charge of receiving same, knowing it to bo stolen. The Crown Prosecutor (Air. J. W. Nolan), appeared on bohalf of tho Crown, and accused, who was undefended, pleaded “not guilty.” •Tho following jury was empanelled : E. 11. Pavitt'((foreman),- P. H. Graham, E. G. Piosso, J. A. Eaton, Wm. llay, Joseph Henly, Jas. Alex. Robb, Donald Gordon, H. Dunstan, John Colley, -H. Henderson, N. Nicholson.

Mr. Nolan briefly stilted tho case for the -prosecution, and called Emma Good, .boarding-liouso keeper, .who said that two boxes were put on - her verandahj -dn charge of -Dr. AA'i Itepa, for' - Burnett. One of tho boxes -subsequently disappeared from the verandah, but prior to this, Burnett came to the house and took something out of. one of tho boxes. Sho did not know accused- and had only seen him in Court. : •- : Sergt. Hutton said that ho knew Burnett, who -complained to him on July 28th that he had dost a tin .box containing '.underwear.• - Oh;;itugust 18t.h accused wns'arrested on another charge*'and .witness, in company with’ Constable 'Pratt,' searched' accused’s room and found the. tin trunk (produced). There was' also a quantity of soiled -wearing apparel.hanging in tho room, and marked with Burnett’s mine. AVitness took possession of the articles, and at the police station, informed -the' prisoner that ho ljad found the missing box in his room and asked liitri whom it belonged to. Ac-, :m-cd said it belonged to a man named Burnett, who was a friend of his, biib whose' whereabouts he. did .-not knon'. Accused' said ’that. the' box had been brought ,to his by a iiian 'named'Cameron, who had also gone away. Accused also said he would plead guilty to a charge of receiving, the box but not, to one of stealing it. Accused was wearing a ahirt, when arrested,.' marked, with. Burnett’s name. All ,the labels, and names had been scratched off the box. AVillirim T. Burnett said that when' he came to. Gisborne at the end of Juno' he' brought two tin..trunks with him: He left- these on the verandah of Mrs. Good’s house. He went to AVhitatutu, and on returning about six weeks later, the trunks were still there. The box (produced) belonged to him, but the.names' and labels had been scratched off. Later, he went for his box and found it was missing. He next saw it .in-the Court. Most of .the clothing was marked and witness identified the box. and contents as his property. •To the accused<s.ould not swear that- he (accused) took the box. To Mr. Nolan : Accused was a stranger to him. Sergt. Hutton, recalled, said that the clothing found Hanging in the room was put by him in.the box. This concluded the evidence for the prosecution, and accused made a similar statement to the jury to that made by him in the lower Court-. He vehemently denied having told Sergt. Hutton that he would plead guilty to receiving the box. - - \ ... In reviewing the evidence, ■ His Honor drew attention to the cock-and-bull story of the accused, made when not on oath. He could see no reason to disbelieve the evidence of the sergeant. ;.. The jury then retired, and returned in'twelve minutes with, a verdict of guilty on the first count, of stealing the trunk. ■ A sentence of twelve months’ imprisonment was. passed on the prisoner. : .' -•■ 1 On the charge of breaking and entering, to which, accused Dante had previously pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, the sentences to he concurrent. BREAKING AND ENTERING. Joseph Johnston and James Keegan were charged with breaking into the dwelling of Robert Colebrook, AVaerenga-a-hika, by. night, on April 22nd, and committing .theft therefrom. Accused were not represented by counsel, and both pleaded “guilty./’ • . Stitements from the accused were read by His Honor, who directed that the prisoners be brought before him again on Monday, with a record of their convictions. ATTEMPTED THEFT FROM THE • PERSON. James ~,Garrety 'was. charged with, having,woni-the' steamer Manuka, on April 2oth, between Napier and Gisborne, attempted theft from the person of one, AA r m. Attwill Spurred. M-r. J. AV. Nolan prosecuted on behalf of the C'ro.wn,. and Mr,- AV. L. Rees defended the accused, who pleaded “not guilty.” The following jury was empanelled : Messrs G. AV. Primrose ('foreman), P. AV. Bushiiell, James Guinore, E: Habgood,.A. Robb, AVm. Lewis, A. Martin, F. R. Fendle, Geo. Hall, T. N. Andrew, J, Parker, Jas. McFarland. Mr. Nolan having briefly reviewed the ..evidence available for the prosecution,

Wm. Attwill Spurred, sbeepfarmer, said that on April 25tli he was a passenger from Napier to Gisborne by the v s.s. Manuka. He slept in the music-room, as the'boat was" crowded, and retired about 11 p.m. .About 1 a.m. -be was disturbed by the accused fumbling at his right-hand hip pticket. Witness .turned round and saw the accused going towards the door. He jumped out. of his berth and followed accused, who dodged round the table in the room. Witness returned to his berth, with the idea of letting accused go, but ho then thought it was his duty, to find the accused. Witness searched round the berths in the music-room and saw the accused crouched behind the piano. A man was lying awake in a berth and witness asked him if lie had seen him (accused) leave-.witness’ berth just previously. The man’ made’ no reply but pointed to the accused, who thereupon left the room, appearing to be drunk. Witness followed him, but lost sight of him, and later found him in a berth in the smoking-room. Accused was pretending to he asleep, and on. being questioned denied having left the smOking-roonT .all the evening. Witness ; scsn.t for the. chief... steward, and inTife pfeSerice churged accused with -attempting to steal from his pocket.,witness’ return to the music-room he found a hat near the piano, arid handed .it. tg, the chief steward.’ The liat:(prod.need) was the onc he found. About 7 a.in. he again saw .accused on the dock minus a hat.

To Air. Rees:lTe had only removed his coat when he lay down, and had. a big coat thrown over him', hut no rue.” The hand lie felt was not -in hi”pocket, hut he could feel the poc-ket-book moving. The lights in the room were lowered, lnit- it was not dark,, and he could easily identify the accused. Vernon Taylor, ironmonger, said that he also .was a passenger by the s.s. Alanuka on the night mentioned. He was awakened in the night by some one calling out “What .ire you doing there?” At the same time he felt something past him. and lie -saw a man on his hands and knees peering at the witness Spnrrell. who was just'getting out of his berth. Air. S.purrell then left the room, and the man jumped in behind the piano. He identified the .accused as the man he had seen hohiiul the piano. He nl--<) went- to the smoking-room and identified the man, who was found there in a bunk, as the accused. On rising in the . morning, witness found that his hat was missing, and the

hat (produced) was loft in Its place. Ho hid no doubt ns to the identity of the accused. To Air. Rees: lie saw accused leaving the music-room, but lie lin’d no hat on. He met accused on the boat before retiring and hud supper with him., sharing a bottle of beer. .lie first saw accused in tho music-room oil -his hands and knees. After Alt'. Spuvrell hid boon out on the deck witness pointed to tho man behind the piano. '

Detective Ra'wle testified to the arrest of tho nccuaed. lie took him •froiii tho steamer to the police station and charged him with tho present offence, to. which accused made no reply. Wien arrested accused was wearing a hit (produced in Court). This concluded the case for the prosecution. Dor the defence Mr. Dees inado a powerful appenl to the jury, pointing out the discrepancies in tho ovidonce of the witnesses for the prosecution. His Honor briefly summed up, and stated that if they thought accused was guilty of the attempted theft it did not matter one whit how far ho hid succeeded in his object. There was no doubt at all that, somebody was crouching behind the piano, and also that somebody was fumbling at the pocket of the witness Spurred. If they thought there was a reasonable doubt the prisoner was entitled to' the benefit of it, hut if. they h id not got a reasonable doubt they would, fail in their duty if they did not convict him. ' The jury then retired, and returned after an absence of four and a-half hours. The foreman announced that the jury were totally unable to .agree. They wero accordingly discharged, and oir the application of Mr. Nolan leave was granted for a new trial. FORGERY AND UTTERING. Martin M. O’Halloran was charged with having, on April 4tli, 1908, committed forgery of and uttered a choq-ue'for-;£l2 18s 7d, purporting to.bo signed by H. L. Tucker. "Accused was. represented by Mr. Stock, and pleaded “guilty.” 1 Mr. Stock urged that probation should be granted. The prisoner, hs ‘said, had been in a gambling den, land there • was some' suspicion of unfair play.. The cheque had been given but not- intended to be cashed, lie had since been employed by Mr. Tucker, whoso name had been forged. The prisoner had been secretary of the H.A.C'.B. Society and had honestly handled the funds. AM the circumstances pointed to the act being that of a sudden impulse, not criminal intent. Hamilton L. Tucker, lately manager of the Alpha sawmills, said that accused had been in his employ at the mills for. IS months. His .character had been'good, and lie had been perfectly honest. He had to- receive money in the yard for odd pieces of timber sold. Accused was remanded until Tuesday for further enquiries by the prohate officer. His Honor declined to grant hail;.