GIRLS CHARGED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 91, 17 April 1936, Page 3

GIRLS CHARGED.

FALSE STATEMENTS.

MADE TO THE POLICE.

SENSATIONAL STORIES TOLD.

Two girls wlio had made false statements to the police by stating that they had been assaulted and knocked out by two men and taken in a motor car to a house in Mount Albeit, thereby causing the police much trouble and inconvenience, were dealt with by Messrs. Rickerby and King, Justices of the Peace, in the Police Court this

morning. Each defendant was 20 years of age. They were charged on summons with making a false statement to the police. One pleaded guilty, while the other, for whom Mr. K. C. Aekins appeared, denied the charge. Pure Inventions. Senior Detective Hall, who prosecuted, said that 011 February 3 the mother of the girl who pleaded not guilty called at the- detective office and said her daughter and the other girl had been molested by two men for a month past. She said it was so bad that they could not go out at night. Both girls made statements to the effect that they were forced into a motor car by two men, who assaulted them and took them to a strange house, from which they escaped through a window. "Our inquiries showed that there was not the slightest truth in the statements made by these two girls," added Mr. Hall. "The matter caused considerable trouble and a great amount of work in investigation. For several days four detectives were engaged in trying to find the two men, descriptions of whom were given by the girls. They had never been assaulted and the stories were pure inventions."

made by one of the girls in which she

Detective Miller read a statement told a sensational story, stating that she and her companion, who resided with her, were both knocked out after being put into a motor car outside a dance hall at 11.30 one night. "We found ourselves in a furnished room of a house in Mount Albert, but we escaped by the window when the two men went into the kitchen," her statement ran. Detective's Warning. "I warned this girl of the seriousness of her allegations and also that she was liable to prosecution if they were untrue, but she said they were true," said Detective Miller. "I interviewed her at a later date, when she said she wanted to tell the truth, as the matter had been worrying her. She then said the men did not make any attempt to interfere with her. She said that the other girl invented the story and that she was under the influence of this other girl. She also said she had no complaint to make about the men and that she did not cjesire the police to make any further inquiries about the matter." Mr. Aekins then called his client ; who went into the witness box and insisted that it was quite true that men had molested her. She said two men did catch hold of witness and the other girl and that on another occasion the same two men pulled them into a motor car and took them to a house in Mount Albert. Witness said she jokingly told her mother that one of the men, whom she refused to go out with at night, had threatened to take sister's baby from the house. She said her mother got frightened at this. "But I did not take any notice of it," said witness.

Senior Detective Hall: Was your first statement true? —No, I did not get knocked out.

You are a bit of a wanderer. You have run away from home on occasions? Yes.

Mr. Aekins: You never complained to the police? It was your mother who went to the police and then detectives interviewed you ?—That's right.

Senior Detective Hall then stated that the other girl, who had pleaded guilty, was at present an inmate of the Salvation Army Home. She had been a great source of trouble at home. The defendant, who had pleaded not guilty, lived with her mother, who was in poor cir : cumstances and separated from her husband.

"I suppose you realise the seriousness of your offence and the trouble you both have put the police to over this matter," said Mr. Rickerby to the girls. The girl who is in the Salvation Army Home was placed under the supervision of the Salvation Army, while. Mr. Aekins' client was admitted to probation for twelve months.

In each case the justices made an order for suppression of name.