INDECENT PICTURES

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 127, 29 May 1914, Page 2

INDECENT PICTURES

! EN A SEPABATIOTf CASE. J j 11R. KETTLE .SPEAXvS OUT. J irueBANT) HEARS ABOIT TrTM^ELVI,

A pathetic case which came before Mr. j f. C. Kettle. S.M., at the Magistrate's ; Court a fortnight a<ro was heard again | this mfirnin!». -when Percy Edon. a toxi- j driver, applied for leave to contest the application of his wife, Rosaline Kxlen. for a separation order. When the ease ; first, ca-me up. v the husbaniT did not appear, and an order was made in his absence. The complainant- then Kta.tcd that she was just IT. and was only K> when she married the defendant in March la.-t. I-'or some time nft-er the niarrinpe they lived in rooms at Devonport, hut his violence and disgraceful conduct toward- her was such that the occupier of tho house tiirneal him out. She was livinc with the sam- family at present-. This moniinc she stated that her husband had rep<'ate<!ly struck her. and had otherwise made life with him unbearable. Since 1 lie separation had been pranted. a fortnight nsrn. he had paid her 30/. At this stage the witness produced a couide of photographs which she said her hu--l.and had shown her. and which she had afterwards found in his bos. They were pro«.«lv indecent, she declarer], and Khe had handed them ovr»r to the police. •CRKAT TUEAStT.ES." Mr. Kettle, after taking * Tiri ' ,f S'anc- | at the pictures, askerl where they were froi from. Complainant: f found them in his boT. '■ Mr. Keltic: Do you sv.ear he brought them to the house? Complainant: Oh. ye.-; they're jrreat treasures of his. Mr. Kettle: Have the police done nothin<i* Compltiinant: I don't know. The Per-Li-ant ißivi I hem hv-\ t-i mc t.i bring into Court. Mr. Kettl.': 11<- shouldn't have done nnythinc "f the sort. He shouldn't have given them to imybiiAv. The mistress of the hou«e in wllii'h complainant was livinc Lave evidence as t.i defendant's conduct, and stated that she saw the pictures taken from a box he had left behind. The defendant. t»Uted th-a* he met his wife on the Dev-onport bench about the iime of the sirikv. She was then a S nursemaid minding suroe children. "She {rave mc the jrlatl eye.' , lie explained, "and t went anJ Pat on thy s'a;- beside her." "Yon Btory-neller, 1 did nr> such lliintt." <'jii.-nia!e<l the complainant in dicnantlv. The wittiest* went on U> «Aay t':i-al n few days later complainant told him that ehe ha«l lnßt h«r jirb and did no; know what to do. ais she wan an orphan and had no m-on-cy. .He arranged that ehe shonlJ liv with his brother an.l eiftter-in-law, and later on they were marriisl. lie dvnied ever having her. and at- for the pictures;, he had not seen them before. '11.- had formerly been in the plmi.n enlargement huffincHS in Welliiißton. nnd when he left that city somebody packed a qiiantily of phc/i-oirraphic into a box for h'.-m. The pictures might have brrn in : h-e ibo>: without has knowledge, lie would have luirned them if be had found them. "ABSOJATEI.Y DlF:;r<Tl\'i;." "H must be obvious to anybody who has listened to this ehoekinjj e:u»e." «aid Mr. Ki'.ttle. in pivinf; judgment, "that <si.met'iiinjj must, be done in nvcue thifi child from herself and from like this man. With rvp.ird to i!i,w pliif>fo.prapl». 1 rmiy say tlrat :n all my )vans of cx;K-ricn'>e on the 1 havp never (seen anything ?n aimoliitely <1 '.-- iTUFtins and blackcuardlv. The police ffhould inquire into this itian'p license, for if the clat* of men driving; lavi-eabs io likv thin 1 <-.in only Ray that it is a idiscrraee to the er. v. "\t" you willing Ito Tiiiiirrtain your wife?" he Ticked tinDefendant: T want, her back. T c*n maintain her ibc-tter then. Mr. Kvttle: Knlcrsi- yo-u ore an n.Spolllte luruilie or n dc<rr-nerat/' you -must admit lint fh<' jinght not d> ?<> back tr> [yon. Don't yrni iwrntil. i: V I 'Defendant : 1 do. j Mr. Kettle nia<l" a. ir,.tint.eminr-e order 'f,,r I.', a vrrk, nn<l adjourned the B e.paTiitNiH qiHvtiim f..r a fortnight. r,n defend.itr no: Io moles: his wife. I