MENTAL HOSPITAL CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 251, 21 October 1921, Page 2

MENTAL HOSPITAL CASE.

NURSE CHARGED WITH ASSAULT. An interesting prosecution was instituted at the Police Court this afternoon, when a young woman, formerly a nurse at the Auckland Mental Hospital, was charged under the Mental Defectives Act with having '"on August 14, being a nurse employed at an institution within the meaning of the Mental Defectives Act, 1011, known as the Auckland Mental Hospital, she did strike a mentally defective woman." Mr. Singer appeared for the defendant. Chief-Detective Mcllveney stated that the offence was an indictable one, but an accused person could, under the Act, elect to be dealt with summarily. Mr. Singer (for the defendant) elected summary jurisdiction. Robert Martin Beattie. superintendent of the Auckland Mental Hospital, stated that on August 16 he examined a female patient and found her to have sustained a swelling on the right side of the head, a swollen nose, an extensive black eye, and abrasions of the left check. He could elicit no information from the patient. In reply to Mr. Poynton,. P.M, the doctor said the age of the patient I a congenital idiot) was between 25 and 30 years. The defendant, he said, denied any assault on her part when questioned, and defied him to prove it. He told her he was going to lay a charge against her. To Mr. Singer: A woman whom he was going to call as a witness, was a patient who was slightly maniacal at times, but who was at the time of the assault and subsequently capable of giving reliable evidence. Witness applied to the Minister for permfssion to prosecute on -September 22, over a month after the assault. Mr. Singer: In tbe dining room this alleged assault occurred there are 23 or so dangerous patients?—No; troublesome, but not dangerous. It was comparatively rarely that fights occurred between the patients, considering there were 1100 of them in the institution. "I worked as a medical student in the slums of Edinburgh for five years, and I saw more lights there among the women than ever I saw in asylums." said Dr. Beattie. Mr. Singer: Did you hear that two or three patients were having a fight on this night, and that one of them was the woman alleged to have been assaulted? No. Did not Xurse tell you so? — No. I emphatically deny that. You dismissed her on the 17th—Yes. And she discovered afterwards that £.'> 18/3 was owing to her?— Some such amount. And you wrote to her on September 15 asking her to come and discuss the money matter and further discuss the alleged assault?— Yes. Pressed by Mr. Singer as to why he waited so long before deciding to prosecute Dr. Beattie, he said he thought at first that dismissal was sufficient punishment for Nurse . but as the matter grew in his mind it became more serious. "Besides," said the Doctor, "the matron advised mc not to prosecute, as she said it would not be in the interests of the institution to do so. But I had the idea of prosecution in my mind all the time." Did yon not order the nurse out of your office when she called? —Yes. because she was impudent and defied mc to prove the charge. Oh, that's the reason, is it?— Yea: if she had apologised and expressed regret I probably would not have taken proceedings. Mr. Singer at this stage, addressing the Bench, said he wished to know whether the Court would go further in hearing the case, since the Doctor had declared that proceedings would not be proper and reasonable up to a certain date, but simply because the girl gave him an impudent answer he decided to take proceedings for an assault which he considered up to that date had been sufficiently punished by dismissal. Mr. Poynton, S.M.: I do not know his motives. It is a question of whether defendant is guilty of the charge. Nurse Mcßobert, of the Auckland Mental Hospital, said she saw the patient alleged to have been assaulted on the night of August 14. The woman had blood all over her face. Witness said to Nurse , "Whatever did you do that for?" and she replied, "Well, she deserved it." Witness washed the patient's face, but the next day her nose had swelled considerably and her left eye was blackened. She told Nurse she was afraid there would be trouble over the nffair, and she did not make any comment. Witness reported the matter to the matron. To Mr. Singer: There was another patient in the dining room, who sometimes became violent. The patient was also troublesome at times, and liable to fight. After hearing other evidence Mr. Poynton found that the assault had taken place. It was a very grave offence in law, and probably arose from inex- | perience how to deal with these unfortunate people in this case. Tlie girl was only 18 years, and evidently she lost her temper in this instance. It was a regrettable thing to do; but she had been dismissed from her position, and she was very young. She would be convicted and fined 40/. Mr. Singer applied for leave to appeal, which the iMagistrate refused, but granted an application for non-publi-cation of the accused's name.