Fijian Goes to Victorian Gaol For Five Years

Five Years

A FIJIAN seaman, Ben Harrye, was re cently sentenced to five months’ gaol in the Criminal Court, Melbourne, for a serious offence against a woman, Harrye’s counsel suggested that dif ferent views prevailed in Fiji in respect of the criminality of attacks on women, and appealed for leniency on the grounds of a different standard of morality.

Mr. Justice Gavan Duffy, in imposing sentence, said that he had no reason to believe that standards differed in the two countries. He also refused to allow Harrye to be deported to Fiji. He said his offence was particularly gross, and women had to be protected from such at tacks, whether from Australians or strangers.