MIDNIGHT ASSAULT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 12, 15 January 1929, Page 8

MIDNIGHT ASSAULT.

TWO YOUNG MEN CHARGED.

VIOLENCE AT GREEN LANE.

ADJOURNMENT GRANTED

Two young men, Alfred Henry Driscoll, 21, a jockey, and Edward Leydon, 22, were before Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., at the Porice Court this morning, charged with being implicated in the midnight assault which took place at Green Lane on the night of December 20. The complainants in the cases were Kenneth Rowland Welch and Alan William Smithson. Both received a severe handling, and Smithson, who had come from Christchurch to take part in the Dominion tennis championships, was unable to play. Welch was left by his assailants bleeding profuselv from a wound on the head, and was rescued by his companion, who escaped with injuries of a less serious character. Defendants were represented by Mr. Singer. "I could smell no liquor on the men," said Smithson, one of the complainants, in evidence. "They just eeemed fightin" drunk." e

That the assault was entirely unprovoked was the statement of* both Smithson and Welch. They were walking from Remuera to Green Lane about 12.45 a.m. on the night of of the assault, and passed a motor car in the vicinity of the racecourse entrance. Soon afterwards the car was driven ahead of them, and two young men got out and came back in an angry mood. "Why didn't you come over when we called out?" asked one of the men, using uncomplimentary names. A scuffle followed, but Welch and Smithson got free and made a run. Thinking they were safe from further molestation they started walking a hundred yards away, and then noticed the car overtaking them again. For a second time they made a dash to get free of their assailants, and chose a blind street. At the end of this an assault of a more serious nature was made. Smithson and Welch were separated, and Welch received a severe cut on the head, the result of violence. Bleeding freely he was rescued by his companion and taken for first aid attention to the house of Mr. A. Hill, manager of the Ellerslie racecourse.

To Mr. Singer, both the complainants denied they received a request to assist in repairing a fault in the car; and also denied having used bad language. "1 tripped one of them up," said Lcydon, in the witness box, after explaining he had accused the complainants of making a certain remark. "It wasn't very manly of you, two or three hoodlums in a car at midnight," is not a matter I can treat lightly, said Chief Detective Hammond. Mr. McKcan: An assault of this kind There appears to have been no justification for the assault. They both deserve to be convicted and punished heavily. Mr. Singer said the result of a conviction in the case of Driscoll would be the automatic cancellation of his license as a jockey, and he would also be forbidden to go on a racecourse. Counsel suggested that the defendants should be discharged under the First Offenders' Act, and that an arrangement be made with the complainants to pay compensation.

The case was adjourned until Friday next, with the consent of the Chief Detective.