"\NSATISFACTORY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 195, 18 August 1936, Page 14

"\NSATISFACTORY."

ELDERLY MAN'S EVIDENCE

TWO LABOURERS ACQUITTED,

Holding that the evidence, particularly that of the principal witness for the prosecution, was unsatisfactory, Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., dismissed two charges brought against two labourers, Ravmond Trevor Child, ' aged 27, and Maurice O'Connor, aged 29, in the Pol ; ce Court this morning.

Both men were charged that on August 12 they were deemed to be rogues and vagabonds in that they were found by night in fSt. Patrick's Cathedral, and, further, that they were deemed to be rogues and vagabonds who endeavoured to impose upon Douglas "Ward by falsely saving that they were staying at a hotel and that O'Connor was a warder at the Kingseat Mental Hospital, with a view to obtaining money.

Sub-Inspector Fox asked permission to amend the first charge to read, found bv night on an" enclosed area connected with St. Patrick's Cathedral."

In allowing the charge to -be so amended, Mr. Wyvern Wilson remained that as it was first drawn the charge seemed ambiguous. "To be a church is not usually a sign of a rogue and a vagabond," .. he said. (Laughter.) Mr. George Skelton appeared for Child, and Mr. K. C. Aekiris for O'Connor. Both men pleaded not fjuilty.

Douglas Ward, an elderly retired business man, who was staying at a city hotel on August 12, said he met the two accused in a cafe about 11 p.m. August 11. He got into conversation with them in the kitchen, when he was told that O'Connor was a warder at the Kingseat Mental Hospital. Witness invited the two men to accompany him to his hotel, and there. they each had a drink. "One of them asked me for the loan of £10," but I laughed at him. But I gave liim a cheque for £1," said Ward. "They then asked me to go with tjiem to their hotel, and it was while walking "through the church grounds and later into a yard or lane that we met a constable, who took us all to the police station." "How many drinks did you have that day V' asked* Mr. Aekins. „ .

"Oh, I don't keep count when I go out," said the witness. Witness said he was quite sober at the time, and so were the two accused.

Mr. Skelton: What did Child have to say ? —He hardly spoke a word to me. Did he ask you for money?— No.

After Mr. Skelton. had put a number of further questions to the witness, the magistrate advised counsel not to pursue the cross-examinaticvn.

Ward (to the magistrate): I think you are trying to muddle me, sir. (Laughter.) Mr. Wyvern Wilson: Candidly, I don't think it is the first time you have been muddled, Mr. Ward.

After the hotel porter who served the three men with drinks at 12.45 a.m. on August 12 and a constable and a sergeant had given evidence, the magistrate remarked that he did not desire to hear either counsel.

"The evidence is far too unsatisfactory to convict either accused," said Mr. Wilson. "The principal witness for the police is a man who was drinking all day and made friends with the two accused. He gave one of the men a cheque to buy drinks, and he was so muddled that upon his evidence I could not enter a conviction. Both charges against the men are dismissed."