THE "DIPPING" CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 198, 21 August 1919, Page 7

THE "DIPPING" CASE.

CALDER. IN THE DOCK. THE QUESTION OF TETANUS. CONDITION OF DEAD BOY'S FEET. The charge of manslaughter against Angus Calder. the father of the seven-year-old boy Trevor Calder, who died in the Auckland Hospital on June Iβ from the effects of exposure- on his father's place at Mangere, was continued at the Supreme ( otirt to-day, before Mr. Justice Chapman. Additional charges accused Calder of having wilfully illtreated his son. causing him unnecessary suffering and injury to his health. The Hon. J. A. Tole. X.C.. conducted for tlu- Crown, and Mr. A. Moody for the defence. Evidence was given l>y Henry C. Jeffrey, headmaster of the Mangore school, who said the deceased seemed cowed when lie first went to school, and would shrink from him if he met him on the road. The boy was in such terror that witness wrote to the father about it. and the father replied that the boy looked for sympathy. IN A DREADFUL STATE. Dr. Tresidder said he was called to i prisoner's house in the forenoon of June J7 last. The bnj; Trevor was lying on the bed. Prisoner, jwinting to the child, said: "Look what a terrible state he is in. You'd have thought the little beggar would have come back For food before all that time." He explained how the boy had run away. Witness examined the child. His feet were in a dreadful state, black and practically dead, there being ! no circulation. The remainder of the I body seemed to be all right. In'answer I to inquiries by witness. Calder said they .had put the boy into a hot bath after '. finding him. Witness then explained to him the danger of putting the child in such condition into a hot bath, as circulation should be restored elowly. I Mr. Tole: Did you question the boy?— I asked him it he had run away. ; He replied -Yes." 1 said. 'Did you hear the people hunting for you. He replied 'Yes; I heard them after mc. I i heard my falher searching one shed, and ! when he went, into another sllctl 1 [slipped into the first, because I knew he I would not look there again for mc."" i j THROWN INTO COLD BATH. i Witness went on to say that he I ordered the boy to the hospital, and nest 'day he went out again to see the father. j He was shown where the boy said he had been hiding behind a stove in one I shed, and also where he was found in another shod. In answer to questions. Calder explained that he had given the child a cold bath for punishment. Wit- : ness was not quite certain of the number of times the cold batli was administered, j according t" prisoner. It might have .been twice, and the boy ran away to j escape the third perhaps. The father ! declared ho just threw the boy into the J 'bath and he was out again in n second. I Mr. Tole: Would riot such treatment I be a shock to the heart? I would not like to do it to a child. i Cross-examined, witness saM lie could 'not say if the cause of death was] .tetanus. He did not sec the child at the hospital. Mc agreed that Calder seemed to be greatly concerned about the boy. thou-rh he did not appear to display' any great affection. TETANUS. ; Mr. Moody: 1 understand that the! tetanus germ is xery prevalent in the Oiiehunga and Mangere soil 7 - \ d>.n't I know about the soil, but 1 do know there] j is a lot of it on the Onehunga beach, j I and presumably therefore on the Mangere beach. Diil you gather that the father had acted towards the boy in honest ignorance?--! )h. yes. ho seemed to think he had been doing right. He desired apparently to check the child in its unhealthy practice, but certainly chose the wrong course. A treatment based on affection and confidence would have had better chance of good results. AMPUTATION N"E( ESSARY. Dr. Herbert I-eelio (Jould. house surjreon at the Auckland Hospital, explained the boy's condition from his admission to the time of his death. Tetanus symptoms developed on .lune 13. ]]•■ considered the exposure suffered by the deceased would contribute to the development of the tetanus. Cross-examined, witness agreed that 'had it not been for the tetanus develop-j Iment there was every hop.' the boy j would 'have recovered. < alder «-a* certainly upset when he was told the boy j had developed tetanus symptoms. I Re-examined, he said that apart from the. tetanus it would probably have been 'necessary to amputate some of the boy's jtoes. though the feet had impro\ed j slightly. ! Re-called. Dr. Tresidder said when he : saw the boy's feet he thought, they were Mono. That wa> to say. they would i probably have to be amputated. THE POLICE EVIDENCE. Detective Cullen. who arrested the prisoner, gave evidence as to what occurred. He- had obtahved a statement from prisoner's housekeeper, when CaMo.r entered and spoke anirrily to her, saying. "Don't >ign anything." Witness turned I t<) him. and remarked. "Tiiat is not good advice." Prisoner then said. "You think 1 am drunk, but I am not drunk.*' Witj U «. s replied, "You are not drunk, but van have been drinking too much." After further parley Miss Angus signed the statement, and witness inspected the shed whore the boy was -u.pposed to 'have hidden, and the one where he was found. Calder refused to sign a statement. Corroborative evidence was given by Constable. Kearney, who explained that the boy's father reported hie absence on the Wetlner-day following hi* disapearance the previous Sun<la3'. f-ater Calder came again, and said the, boy had not turned up. adding, "It wiM kill him being out in all thie frost.' . The denied having replied. "Oh don't bother about him, lie will tairn >p." Every reasonable effort was made by the police to snd the boy. This concluded the evidence for the prosecution. CASE FOR TFIE DEFENCE. EVIDENCE BY PRISONER. The prisoner, Angus Calder, was called first for the defence. lie stated that he was 35 years of age. had been employed 15 yeans by tiie Tramway Company, and was now a car examiner at the Epsom depot. Tiie mother of the dead boy Trevor died -.even years ago, since wheal he had engaged- , housekeepers to took after hi- homo and children. When he drat noticed a certain bad habit in Trevor witness 'irst -trapped him. but finding that form of punishment ineffective he "dipped" him. with good resulte. Witness never held him under the water. Hβ just, dipped ihe OC V and then dried and

dreesed him. and put him before the fire. The boy weiit to 'his grandpa rente to stay, and on two such occasions witness noticed he had fallen away greatly during each visit, and. improved considerably alter being at home for a while. Apart from the "dipping" the child wae treated exactly ac the other children, and he hid plenty oi clothing. Food wae also pleatifal at his home, a fact which housekeepers hail remarked upon. HIS AFFECTION FOR THE BOY. When he found Trevor in one of the sheds witness immediately put him in a bath and pave him some warm milk. He also heated a couple of irons and put them to his feet. Next day he called in Or. Tressider. When t"e child was in the hospit: 1 he received a ring to say the child was very bad. Witness consulted Ur. Tressider, who expressed the opiuion that the child whs probably not critically bad. I'pon further inquiry at the hospital, however, he decided to go to the hospital, and when he arrived the boy had just received an injection of some sort. He hud always felt the same affection for Trevor as for his other children. Cross-examined, witness said it never struck him to consult a doctor about the child's habit. Mr. Tole: Where did you go to look for the boy when he failed to turn up?— I went round the mountain, and the boys went from house to house. In answer to the judge, witness stated he searched the sheds. Mr. Tole: At what time did you find the child on the Friday?- -A bout 10 o'clock in the morning. I think. Then why did you allow 24 hours to pass hefore sending for a doctor/—I thought the feet were naturally blue with the cold. You were possibly ashamed to cajl in the doctor?— There was no ashamed about it. Xo further evidence was called for the defence. When the Court resumed this afternoon Mr. Moody briefly addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner. He submitted that the Crown's case was really based on flimsy evidence, and had slipped away from anything like substantial proof of ill-treatment. Tetanus had caused the boy's death, and not. as thf" Crown represented, brutality on the part of (lie father. Mr. Tole followed with an address for the prosecution, and his Honor was sumnuing iij) as we went to prest?.