PARNELL FRACAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 7

PARNELL FRACAS.

DESPERATE FIGHTS.

CONSTABLE SEEKS AID.

jtaJT SERIOUSLY INJURED.

A desperate encounter between Constable C. H. S. Smith and a man named Ralph Martin Byfield, aged 39, occurred in By field's house, Scarborough Terrace, Parnell, shortly after nine o'clock last night. -As a result the constable was injured and had to seek assistance, while Byfield, after escaping from another constable with whom he later fought, jumped over a fence and fell down a bank, receiving serious "injuries necessitating his removal to hospital.

Byfield is said to be a seaman and waterside worker and lives with Ms vi-ife and two young children in a small house in Scarborough Terrace. At nine o'clock last night, when leaving the police station in Garfield Street, Constable Smith was approached by Mrs. Byfield, who had a child with her. bhe asked him to go to the house with her, and he did so. They found Byfield in bed, but he came to the door It is alleged that Byfield attacked the Constable. _

A. strucHe between Byfield and Constable Smith then followed, lasting for 20 minutes. After throwing Byfield to the ground, Constable Smith, who had been suffering from influenza, almost collapsed and had to be attended by a woman living nearby, and afterwards by a doctor. For over 15 minutes both men fought desperately in a small room, a table and chairs and other articles of furniture being overturned and broken. Then the ficrM moved outside. ' According to a who witnessed the struggle, the constable only drew his baton as a last resort. As the constable was leaving the house, Byfield got up and followed him, but later went away.

A neighbour got into communication with the city police, and Sergeant Dunn and three constables were dispatched in a car. Byfield was not in the house, and the police searched the locality for him, but without result. Mrs. Byfield and her children then went to her mother's house in Bath Street. Constable Massey was placed outside the house.

Shortly after one o'clock this morning Byfield appeared and was challenged by the constable. It is alleged that he struck Constable Massey, and another desperate struggle -followed. Byfield broke away and rushed towards Selwyn Terrace, where he vaulted over a picket fence and fell about 20ft to a section at til© rear of a warehouse in the Strand. He lay inert and Constable Massey could see that he was seriously injured. He obtained assistance, and Byfield was carried out to the Strand and placed in the St. John Ambulance and removed to hospital. The full extent of hie injuries have not yet been ascertained, as an X-ray examination has to be made. = i YOUNG MAN'S THEFT. HARD PRESSED FOR MONEY. LONG WALK TO WHANGAREI. A young man named Robert James Grigg, whose sentence of 14 days' imprisonment for theft expired this morning, appeared in the Police Court, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a flask and four tumblers of a total value of £2 10/, the property of William James Biggs, at Whangarei on March 24.

Detective-Sergeant McHugh said Grigg left his ship in Wellington and recently walked to. Whangarei, where he was helped by several people. After he had been sentenced oh a charge of theft, the present offence was discovered. He sold the tumbers for 5/. Nothing else was known against Grigg, who was hard pressed for money when he committed the theft.

The magistrate sentenced Grigg to a further 14 days' imprisonment.