WIFE WHO LOATHES HUSBAND

NZ Truth, Issue 1293, 18 September 1930, Page 7

WIFE WHO LOATHES HUSBAND

Benfell Blames Mother -In - Law For Domestic Estrangement CRUELTY TO HIsIsABY NOT PROVED (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.) | N "I loathe him." This was Brenda Helen Benf ell's answer to her coun- | | sel when, m the course of her application to Mr. T. B. McNeil, S.M?, for separa- | | tion from William Joseph Benfell, he asked her what was her attitude towards | j her husband. . j | The magistrate believed the husband's story, and refused to make an order j | for the wife's maintenance. He ordered Benfell to pay 15/- a week for his child. J

WHEN Mrs. Benfell made her ap- 1 plication m 'the Wellington Maintenance Court a few. days ago, 'her counsel, Mr. A. B. Sievwright, said»that she h;id been most unhappily married. Her husband's sexual intemperance had created a loathing for him as far as she was concerned. It wa,s impossible and hopeless for her to overcome that loathing. Benfell, said Mr. Sievwright, had been cruel to the child on occasions, and once struck .-her with the side of a knife. Mrs. Benfell, a rather attractive, young woman, .only nineteen years ot* age, said that her' husband was a French polisher, and she married him m Christchurch ih September, 1925. Her child was born on March 31 of the following y,ear. After the marriage she and her husband lived m Christchurch with her mother, until just before Christmas of L 929. They then went to Wellington, and three months later her motherfollowed her,, and they went to live with her at Newtown. "In May last my husband went to Wanganui to work," said Mrs.' Benfell, "and while he was there he sent me only £4. After he had been m Wanganui a few weeks he asked me to go up to him there, but I refused, and he would not send me any money afterwards." Mrs. Benfell said that she would -. not live with Benfell because of his conduct to her. Her life with him had' been unhappy. "What was the cause of your unhappy life?." asked Mr. Sievwright Mrs.' Benfell did not reply. "Well, I'll put it this way," ' said Mr. Sievwright. "Was the cause of it as set out m the doctor's certificate?" Mrs. Benfell replied that it was. ' Mr. Sievwright: What is your attitude to him? — I loathe him. He has ill-treated the baby? — Yes, 1 came home one day and saw where he had bruised the side of its face. Mr. Shorland (for Benfell): You

didn't see the instrument with which it had been bruised?— 7 No. You did not see him strike the child? —No. Who wis it that told you it was he who struck it? — He was the only one about the place who would do it. When your husband went to Wanganui to get a jo^ it was arranged that you were to go up there later and join him? — Yes. At that time you<-were quite prepared to make arrangements? — I made them without any intention of keeping them. .You- wrote to him at Wanganui quite frequently, and maintained the bluff of going to join him? — Certainly. I wanted some money. Your letters were rather affectionate? — 1 don't think so. i "Y T ou wrote this," said Mr. Shorland, | reading- from one of the. letters, " 'Ta. ta, Old Thing, will write again soon, Your affectionate old wifie'?" "That isn't affectionate," said Mrs. Benfell. J Mr. Shorland: In any of those letters was anything said about cruelty or other things? — No, because I wanted money. . I "put it to you' that up to the time you refused to join Benfell. m Wanganui ypu received money every week? — I think I received it for three weeks-. He sent £3 one week? — Two pounds was the most I received. That statement about receiving only £4 was a guess? — Certainly it wasn't. What is the attitude of your mother towards your husband?— She doesn't wish to have anything to do with him. Do you remember on one. occasion he asked .you to leave your mother and go to live with him m a flat? — Y"es. You agreed to that? — No, I didn't give a definite answer. Did your mother object? — No.. I objected myself. If the allegation you make against him" is correct why did, you live with him until he went to Wanganui? — My health wasn't too good, and I was unable to work for myself and child. I

! thought that if I left him he wouldn't have to keep me. Mr. Shorland then questioned Mrs. Benfell regarding her allegation that her husband was intemperate m his relationships with her. Later he asked her whether her mother had suggested bringing the separation proceedings, but Mrs. Benfell replied that she had nothing to do with it. Benfell, who gave his age as 23, said m evidence that he did not wish to, be parted from his wife. They had lived happily together at first, and his wife's people ,then treated , him all right; but later they" 1 changed towards him. He wanted to. get away from his mother-in-law, and thought that if his wife would leave her they could live happily still. Benfell added that he had a vacant fiat m Wanganui, and he and his wife could live there, or if she preferred it she could stay with him at his boarding-house. In giving his decision the Magistrate remarked that the allegation of cruelty to the baby had not been proved. With regard to the 'allegation of intemperance of sexual matters he was satisfied that Benfell, during the latter portion of the time he and his wife were living together, realised her condition and treated her with consideration. "I have had an opportunity of reading through . the letters," said Mr. McNeil, "and it is not to be gathered from them, except from the last few, that . Mrs. Benfell was any way antagonistic to her husband. They were letters which any wife might write to her husband. "From the letters I read I obtained the impression that Mrs. Benfell intended going to live with. her husband, but did not like to leave the city. It is the duty of a wife to live where her husband is." The magistrate would not make any order for' the wife's maintenance, but did so m. respect" of the child at the rate of 15/- a week.