WIDOW WOUNDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 279, 24 November 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

WIDOW WOUNDED.

MURDEROUS SCENE IN A SHOP. SOBBING YOUTH CHARGED. Remarkable evidence was given at Rochester City Police Court, when a youth named George Richard Judge (17), said to be out of work, of Albert Road, Rochester, was remanded, charged with the attempted murder of an elderly widow, named Emily Parry, who keeps a tobacconist's and newsagent's shop near the High Street, Rochester, by striking her on the head with a chopper. Mr. J. L. Percival, Town Clerk of Rochester, said Judge went into the shop about 11 a.m. and asked for a packet of cigarettes. When' Mrs. Parry turned her back he struck her with the chopper. She fell down, Judge jumped over the counter, hit her again, and tried to strangle her after pulling her into a back room.

A customer entered, and Judge served him with cigarettes, placing the money on the counter. While the customer was there, Mrs. Parry staggered around and got towards the door.

Mr. P. C. Stigant, a Chatham solicitor, was the principal witness. He said he was passing the shop when he noticed Mrs. Parry standing inside the door. She was covered in blood down to the waist, .and appeared to have a severe wound on the forehead.

He rushed across the road to fetch the police and the doctor. He then went back to the shop, where Mrs. Parry was still standing in the doorway and in the back room he found Judge. He was sitting in a chair with his head in his arms, sobbing.

On the floor beside the'chair in which ho was sitting was a chopper. It had bloodstains on it, and fresh bloodstains were on the hands of the prisoner. There were also bloodstains all over the floor. Witness took hold of Judge's shoulder and asked him what he had been doing. In a state of great agitation he replied:

"I could not get money for myself and my family and I could not get food, and I was desperate. I supposed I went mad for a time."

The Mayor, Mr. F. C. A. Matthews, told witness that the Bench admired the prompt and plucky way in' which he had acted.