The Sydney Morning Herald, Fri 16 Apr 1937 1
LAW REPORT.
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QUARTER SESSIONS.
(Before Acting Judge Hill.)
Senior Crown Prosecutor, Mr LJ McKean, KC (instructed by the Clerk of the Peace).
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(Before Judge Sheridan.)
Crown Prosecutor, Mr BV Stacey (instructed by the Clerk of the Peace.)
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(Before Acting Judge Betts.)
Crown Prosecutor, Mr TS Crawford, KC (instructed by the Clerk of the Peace.)
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CHEMIST PLEADS GUILTY.
Henry Ernest Mason, chemist, pleaded guilty to a charge alleging four counts of indecent assault on a male person. He was remanded for sentence.
A police officer informed the Court that the accused was a chemist in a suburb of Sydney. There were, he said, two other chemists by the same name of Mason in the same suburb, and they were in no way connected or associated with the accused.
Mr H Mansfield appeared for the accused.
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Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, Sat 17 Apr 1937 2
TWO MEN GAOLED
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OFFENCES AGAINST BOYS
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Sydney, Friday.
On charges of offences against boys, Stewart Cumming, 45, a salesman, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment by Judge Sheridan at the Quarter Sessions to-day. Henry [Ernest] Mason, 42, a chemist, was sentenced to imprisonment for four and a half years for similar offences.
Mason will be segregated for curative treatment.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, Sat 17 Apr 1937 3
QUARTER SESSIONS.
(Before Acting Judge Hill.)
Senior Crown Prosecutor, Mr LJ McKean, KC (instructed by the Clerk of the Peace.)
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(Before Acting Judge Betts.)
Crown Prosecutor, Mr TS Crawford, KC (instructed by the Clerk of the Peace.)
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4½ YEARS’ GAOL.
Henry Ernest Mason (42), chemist, who had pleaded guilty to a charge, alleging four counts of indecent assault on a male, came up for sentence.
His Honor said that on each count he would impose sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment. Three of the terms of sentences would be cumulative and the forth would be concurrent.
He would recommend that the depositions be forwarded to the Comptroller-General of Prisons, and that his attention be drawn to the medical evidence in order that he should have an opportunity to decide whether the prisoner should be segregated. If, after two years, the prisoner could be released with safety he would direct that the sentence be reviewed.
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Truth, Sun 18 Apr 1937 4
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Last week Henry Ernest Mason, a chemist, and Stewart Morrison Cumming, a salesman, whose cases are reported elsewhere, were convicted of practices similar to the offences of Maddocks. The first-named was sentenced to four and a half years gaol, and the latter to four years.
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6 YEARS’ AND 4
YEARS’ GAOL
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SENTENCE of six years’ imprisonment was passed on Henry Ernest Mason, 42, a chemist, at the Sydney Quarter Sessions last week, after he had pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assaults on male persons. Acting Judge Betts, when passing sentence, ordered that three of them be served cumulatively, and one concurrent, thus imposing in effect four and half years’ gaol.
DETECTIVE SKEHAN (Darlinghurst) told the court that Mason was a chemist in a Sydney suburb. There were two other chemists of the same name in the suburb who had no connection or association with the prisoner.
Between November and December of last year, said witness, Mason led boys to believe that he wanted a messenger. The boys visited his shop and he would commit the offence, promising the boys that he would make them presents.
“In these cases you have pleaded guilty to four offences,” said Acting Judge Betts.”I have read the depositions and the evidence shows that these offences were committed under circumstances of the most depravity. Four young boys [1) Robert Victor Morgan; 2) Raymond Stanley Muller; 3) John Willis; 4) Terry Albert Shirley Hazlewood (Hazelwood) Ball ] were concerned and the offences were over a short period. They were of such a nature that I cannot help feeling convinced that you are not normal.
“I feel you can’t help yourself, and I feel that you are more to be pitied than condemned. On each charge you are sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment, three of them to be cumulative and the fourth to be concurrent.
“I recommend that the deposition be sent to the Comptroller-General of Prisons and that his attention be drawn to the medical evidence to enable him to have an opportunity of deciding whether you should be segregated.
“LOATHSOME BRUTE.”
“YOU are a loathsome brute, and you must be put away,” said Judge Sheridan at the Sydney Quarter Sessions last week, when imposing sentence of four years’ gaol on Steward Morison Cumming, who had been found guilty of an offence with a 15 years’ old boy.
Detective Aubrey Keating told the court that on March 10 last he went to Brougham-street and saw the accused. He told Cumming of the boy’s allegations, and Cumming immediately denied them, and offered to make a statement.
In a long statement from the dock, Cumming protested his innocence.
1 The Sydney Morning Herald, Fri 16 Apr 1937, p. 6.
2 Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, Sat 17 Apr 1937, p. 12. Emphasis added.
3 The Sydney Morning Herald, Sat 17 Apr 1937, p. 12.
4 Truth, (Syd, NSW), Sun 18 Apr 1937, pp. 1, 15. Emphasis in original and added.