FIERCE FIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 196, 19 August 1936, Page 7

FIERCE FIGHT.

TWO MEN WOUNDED

ALLEGED KNIFE STABS. AND BLOWS WITH TORCH. SEQUEL IN SUPREME COURT. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. How two young men arranged to have a fight, in which one was allegedly knifed and the other suffered critical head injuries, was told in the Supreme Court at Hamilton yesterday, when Alva Vernon McMinn and Cyril Dudding Henderson were charged with assaulting each other and causing actual bodily harm. There were alternative counts of common assault.

The evidence showed that, at Taumarunui 011 April 29, the pair consumed a quantity of 1 home brew. Disputes arose and they started to fight. In the struggle McMinn believed he had been struck in the back with a penknife, and according to the Crown he retaliated by hitting Henderson a number of times on the hesid with an electric torch. Henderson escaped ana collapsed in a serious condition 011 the verandah of a doctor's residence.

McMinn's version was that he had been led to a paddock, where it appeared Henderson attempted to throw him. They went into a clinch and McMinn said he felt knife stabs in the back. He was forcad to use his torch in self-defence.

Henderson alleged that McMinn was the aggressor and denied all knowledge of the knife.

McMinn was found not guilty on the major count, but guilty on the common assault charge under strong provocation, the jury making a strong recoinmendiition to mercy. He was admitted to probation for one year. Henderson was acquitted on both counts.