CRUELTY CHARGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 39, 15 February 1934, Page 15

CRUELTY CHARGE.

CHILD'S INJURIES. WOMAN SENT FOR TRIAL. EVIDENCE AT ONEHTUNGA. Anita Waimate Anaru, a young halfcaste Maori -woman, was charged, at Oneliunga yesterday, before Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., with assaulting and causing bodily harm to June Heaps, aged seven. She was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. George Alfred Heaps, father of the child, was also charged with causing her to be ill-treated and neglected in a manner likely to cause her bodily suffering. The charge against him was dismissed. Sergeant S. A. Brown prosecuted. Mr. W. Noble appeared for both the accused persons. June Heaps, whose left arm was in a sling, said tlie female accused had whipped her sometimes on the legs, and hit her on her arm with a stick, and also given her a black eye. Her father had beaten her sometimes with a strap on her legs. To Mr. Noble: She once collided with a pole at school and blackened her eye. Dr. Howard' Thomas said that ho examined the child on January 12 last. Both her legs were badly bruised and blackened. There were several fresh bruises on both legs, her back, and but' tocks. There were numerous old. contusions 011 her knees, and bruises or another part of her body. He suspected a fracture of the left arm, and theiefore he sent her to the Auckland. Hospital tc have it X-rayed. The arm was intensely painful, anc the child could not bear him to touch it In his opinion the injuries caused tnf child much suffering, and had beer inflicted with violence, by a stick ox heavy instrument. Dr. Thomas Jaguscli, of the Auckland Hospital, told of bruises on the child a arms and legs, and septic sores i behind her neck and on her right arm. He produced an X-ray photograph showing a fracture of the left ulna or small bone 11 the left arm. It was between three anc six weeks old. To Mr. Noble: The fracture could have been caused by the child falling down a 1 school, an dtlie black eye by colliding with a pole. In reply to Mr. McKean, the witness said there was nothing to indicate th( cause of the septic sores. The _ health of the child' when admitted tc the hospital was not up to the .usua standard of a child of her age. • Living in Motor Garage. Ida Spicer, child . welfare officer employed by the Education .Department eaid she visited June Heaps at her torn*

in Boyd Avenue, Mangere, last month. The home was a motor garage, and consisted of one room, containing two single beds. She examined the girl's body in a motor car, as there was nowhere else to do so- It was bruised. The girl told her that her "auntie," meaning the accused woman, had caused the injuries. Witness then went to the woman, who was in bed, and was told by her that she punished the child when she deserved it, either with a strap or stick. Heaps had given her permission to do so. Witness afterwards took the child to the hospital, and now her health was much improved.

Mrs. Edith O'Shea, a neighbour, said she had once spoken to the female accused about hitting the child. The latter replied, "1 will kill the little ' Witness could hear the thumps when the child was being thrashed. The i child was afraid to answer her questions when spoken to. | Constable R. Wilks said Anita "Waimate Anaru could speak good English, and had been well educated. Signs of Fear. Other neighbours gave evidence as to the child being locked in the garage for hours. Walter Claydon said that when he asked the little girl the cause of her facial disfigurement, she was too terrified to answer. The child's school teacher, Miss B. if. Phillips, stated that her behaviour at school was exceptionally good, but when questioned about her home an<l family, she showed unmistakable signs of fear and would give no information whatever On October 27, said witness, the child, after an absence of four days, returned to school with a badly bruised face and said she had fallen down. When she started school in May last witness found the girl bright and healthy, but toward the end of November she became very listless and inert. Mr. McKean said the evidence proved that Heaps had given the accused woman permission to punish his child if the child's conduct warranted it, but it did not prove him guilty of the charge preferred against him, and therefore it would be dismissed. The woman then pleaded not guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was fixed at £100.