THE RED REFUGEE.

NZ Truth, Issue 234, 18 December 1909, Page 5

THE RED REFUGEE.

"DR." BORANOFF IN TROUBLE, Serious Criminal Charge. GIRL ASSAULT ALLEGED. Accused Committed.

At the S.M.s Court, KeiWtog, on Monday last, Leo Boranoff, alias Arthur Arnold . Copeland, was charged with atteinptihg to carnally Know a g^l under the age of twelve years. The proceedings were heard with closed doors. Accused was not represented by counsel. The irbhy of fate was shown up largely "m the case by the fact that the Magistrate who presided on the Bench and remanded him on the present charge, was the gentleman who, as Mayor of JVeiiding, extend^ a civic welcome to the Russian •KefugeiJf who has recently been travelling round the Nvest coast of the North -Island as a spectacle specialist. ACCUSED'S PREVIOUS CHAKAUTKR. " Leo, v.'ho has passed at different times by the names of Leo Coplau iJoranoff, and Leo Coplan, has made himself very '- well" known- during the eighteen .months. '"'■%!& lias beeti in^ New* Zealand, first by setting' himself up as a refugee from the uhjiis"b: persecution of Nicholas the nefarious, and later by acts which might appear fitting for an escapee from a convict settlement, but which, hardly dovetailed with his profession of a doctor ot medicine, as he alleged he was. Me worked his passage from JiJngland as a greaser; and, O n his arrival, was intexvi6wed^ by all the leading "respectable" dailies'; and he filled a good space m e a ch with tales about what he suffered m llussia. There interviews set out that fco had, on February and, iyOs, been sentenced 'to four years m Siberia as the 'result pi a- political offence, but that. ho escaped three months afterwards. After Leo bad luxuriated for some time m Wellington j:eopl« fcegan to ask questions. l-le*\yas chalknicd to produce his doctor's .certificates; and promised to d 0 so, t>ut failed. Then it wag put to him as being rather odd that he had been sentenced m February, 1805, bad been m custody until April of that year, and aft.r ti.at hid made his escape through Japan, and bad got to Berlin m time to fai'e a doctor's degree there m l«08. it was also- pointedly put to him that althougjh he claimed to have had the degree L.R.U.F. conferred on him, a se a rch of ilia register failed to discover his name. But it was When he set out as a lecturer that the bottom fell out of his tales with a horrible thud. His grammar was^sorso, .his geography was defective, and plain lies were as common as cats. Several Russian residents m the town were 'prepared to come forward and prove : tliat Leo had never been m Irkutsk ; and they pointed out that Leo had made a "■ mistake m spelling his name as BoranoH — Bixranoff or Baronofi would have passed muster. •■ The refugee business having gone sour on him, Leo Uoplan had to turn his attention to other channels of activity, Avhicifi. ended m Boranoft being involved m polite court proceedings, the result of which will still be fresh m the public mind. THE PRESENT CHARGE. : Sergt. Bowden conducted the prosecu- ; tion, and,, m outlining the case, he said that on the . lirs-t < day of the U'eilding races (November 10) accused was driving in' the vicinity of Awahuri, and, o-Ver- _ staking 'several. „y oung girls returning -~-fr^nt-"sclK)oK offered tfiem a litt, which was ,acoapt;«d.. The girls got out at different ".places,' but the girl Johnston remained .m the trap by herself after the others had left.. . The trap was stopped., and the alleged, offence was attempted. The first witness was Maggie Johnston, a pleasant-looking little girl,, wh 0 stated that she was 8£ years old. She was pat m the •witness-Box, but was not asked tg "kiss the Book;" She said she lived m Cameron's-JLane, and went to the Awahuri School. She attended school on Novemwar 30, and, on coming out at three o'clock met a man with a trap. ..She recognised the prisoner m the dock as . the man she met. Accused offered a lift to herself and three boys and another - girl. The boys got out at different places - along the road, and the girl, Minnie Jacobsan, was the last to get out, toaving accused and witness hi the trap. After tbe others kit the trap, they proceeded for some distance, .when ACCUSED KISSED WITNESS. Then he stopped' the trap and misconduct* cd himself. Witness then related how accused proceeded to commit further indecencies, which she described hi detaiL At this stage of the proceedings, tbe Witness began to weep. Continuing, she said that accused only touched her leg. lie was wearing a white straw hat, which, fell off. At this Junc--tur« two pjrls pa m e . .. up from behind— Gladys . Holland on a Pony, and another girl on a bicycleT Accused's hat was on the side of tbe road, and tbe girl Holland asked her to get out and put it m the trap. Witness did so, but said it did not matter about getting on the girl . Holland's pony, and got into the trap again. . Accused and witness then drove along Cameron's Line, and, after a time, stopped again ; but tile horse started suddenly and both were thrown out on the road. Witness . then RAN HOME ACROSS THE PADDOCKS. In examination by accused, witness said accused wore white trousers and a black coat, and said she thought he was sober, though, m answer to the Bench, she fiaid she could not tell wlrether a man was drunK or soser Gladys Holland, aged .11, gave evidence that she attended the Awahuri school, her father keeping the hotel at Awahuri. Knew Boranofi because he had stayed at her fattier 's hotel, and recognised him as the man m the dock. On November 30 she first saw accused on the Palmerston- . road. Later on, she overtook the trap : when it was stopped, witness being mounted on a pony. A hat belonging to the accused was lying on the road. When witness got up to the trap, she noticed certain circumstances which seemed to bar suspicious. As an excuse , to get Maggie out of the trap, witness asked her to pick up accused's bat. When Maigjgie had put the hat m the trap she got "m again, and they drove off, and ,when the trap reached Cameron's Lane 1 , it toppled over. Witness then went to Bennet's and told them what she had seen,. Miss and Mrs Bennett coming out to the toad. Examined by accused, witness said she was sure it was Cameron's Lane where the trap was • upset, and the distance from Jacobson's to where the capsize occurred was- a little over a quarter of a mile. The Bench: Why did Magßic Johnston set back into tfte trap after picfcmg up accujwu s hat, su*d you had told her t 0 get O n your pony ? Witness : She told me it didn't matter, as the man m the trap had promised to drive her home. Accused did not say anything when witness asked Maggie *o get on her p»ny. Seru;o? Nt Bow den : Was accused drunk or sober?— r sbouifl say he -was not ■obtK. lsa^la Bennett, well-set-up young wob*a» of about 24 years ol age, who appettfed m the witness-box m a ridinghahrt and a hard-hitter, said she lived on the corner of Cameron and Rangitikei Lanes. Between three and four o'clock on November 301*1, Gladys Holland called at' the house, and complained 0 I a maa she called Boranoff, m his treatment of Magp,ie Johnston. Witness vest out Into She road and saw accused, w>« was |

wearing cream trousers, a dark coat, a straw hat and goM-rimmed spectacles. The trap had been upset, and a man named Young was helping to right it as witness came on the scene. She ' noticed that portion of accused's attire was disorderly. She accused him of interfering, with Maggie Johnston, but he made n6 - reply. Witness then said that HE DESERVED HORSEWUIPPJLNU, and, il Maggie's father was there, he would do it. Thereupon, accused hung his head and drove oftTo the Bench : There was no doubt that the man m the dock was ttns man accused of the offence. He Was under the influence of drink, but Knew enough t 0 know what he was doing. Maggie Johnston, mother of the girl aliened to have been assaulted, produced a birth certificate showing she was .born .on March 24th, IS.OI. On November 30th f her daughter came home crying, stating: that she had fallen out of a trap driven by a man who had picked her up just past the school, and had promised to drive her home, it was some days atteewards that her daughter told her what had happened. Maggie • said she did not liko to do so before. Sergt. Bowden gave evidence that on December 7th accused was arrested at Rongotea- When accused was brought to FeiWing, witness read the warrant, to him, and accused wished to know the date of the aMeged offence. Accused asfced witness to take a statement regarding his name. Accused said: "I am no alias. My proper name is Leo Arthur Coplan Boranoff"— which he said m Rossian meant "Son of a baron." Witness said to accused that other . witnesses would swear to his having worn ligfatcolored pants on the day In question, whereupon accused opened his dressingcase, and, producing a pair of light pants said that those were the ones he had worn on the tiny m question. By the Bench : No information was laid to him. People not intimately connected with the case spoke to him, and he went to the Awahuri school and got all his information there. People were talking about the matter before Maggie Johnston told her mother about what had happened. Accused asked the name of the sergeant's first informant, hot the sergeant said no could not divulge the source of his information. In answer to the usual query, accusedsaid he had nothing to say, but he asked for bail. He also asked that tbe police woiiM give him the address of the man who helped to right Ms trap when it was overturned.. . . ' Accused was committed for trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court m Palmerston North, and was allowed bail m his own recognisance of £100, and two sureties of £100 each. , Bail was not forthcoming and accused was removed by the A'ew Plymouth mail train to the Teraa.ce Gtapl. • . :