MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23583, 10 March 1942, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

MONDAY (Before Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M.)

EIGHT MEN CHARGED

Seven charges of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl over the age of 12 and under the age of 16, and one charge of indecently assaulting the same girl were heard against eight men. Seven of the accused had their names suppressed. The eighth, Charles Christensen, said Senior-Detective H. Nultall, who prosecuted, had a ion;; list and the evidence against him showed he was not in the same category as the oilier aroused. In each case a plea of not guilty was entered, and the accused were committed to the Supreme Court for Inal. Bail was allowed for each of the accused (except Christensen) in his own recognisance of £. r io. to report to (he police as directed, Christensen was allowed hail in his own recognisance of £IOO, with one surely of £IOO, to report to the police as directed. Five of the accused were represented by Mr D. W. Russell, two by Mr J. A, Kennedy, and one by Mr Russell acting on instructions from Mr C. V. Lester. The girl concerned gave evidence that she was now 16 years of, age, but at tlie time some of the offences took place she was 14. In reply to a question from Mr Russell, the witness said when she started work in September she told her employers she was la, and after her birthday in October it was supposed that she was then 10 years. Social security tax was deducted from her wages. She certainly had not told her employers or any of the accused that she was 10. Because of payments for overtime, she had not known for several months that the tax was being deducted Irom her wages. Several of the offences were alleged to have taken place at her work. The girl admitted she had received money from several ot the accused. . ~ . Giving evidence m the chaise against Christensen, the girl said he had been responsible for introducing a soldier tone of the accused) to her, and the £1 he had given her was shared with Christensen. After hearing the evidence, the Magistrate said to Senior-Detective H. Nuttall, who prosecuted: “I feel constrained to draw your attention to this young woman; something should be done about her; at the present she is a menace to the male community. REMANDED George Mason Elliott, miner, aged r,O pleaded not guilty l» a charge ol stealing on March li a cycle, valued at £7. tlie property of some person or persons unknown, and was remanded to March 16. Robert Nelson Wilde, a miner, aged ?fi of no fixed abode, was remanded to’ March 10 on two charges—that on March I he was found without lawful excuse but in circumstances which did not disclose the commission of or the intention to commit any other offence, within tlie building at 179 Armagh street; and on or about February 14 he stole a cycle, valued at £4, the property of William Bavncll. MOTOR-CYCLIST CHARGED

Leslie Heaton Brown (Mr V. G. Spiller), pleaded guilty to a charge of having been drunk in charge of a motor-cycle at Lincoln on March 8. Senior-Sergeant J. 'Bickerdike said a constable saw the accused riding a motor-cycle in an erratic manner. When Brown was stopped he was found to be under the influence of liquor, and later a doctor certified him ns unfit to drive.' Mr Spiller asked that Brown’s driving licence not be cancelled as he was engaged on full-time war work at the Addington Workshops, and his motorcycle was his only possible means of transport. Brown was fined £lO and ordered to pay costs, in default imprisonment for 2i days. His driving licence was endorsed, and cancelled until June 30, and he was declared unfit to hold another for 12 months from that date.

SUSPENDED SENTENCE Margaret Elizabeth Bailey, appearing for sentence on a charge (to which she had previously pleaded guilty) of stealing on February 28 a silver-plated sugar-basin and teaspoon, valued at £3 7s (id the properly of Thomas George Lewis, was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence u called on within 12 months. An order was made for the return to the owner of the goods stolen. THREE RESERVISTS CHARGED Three reservists, William Lough Cardwell, Stanley Miles Chamberlain, and Henry Davis Steffens, were sentenced to imprisonment for two months, thereafter to be detained in a defaulters’ camp, on charges brought under the National Service Emergency Regulations, 1940. Cardwell, who it was stated, had had his appeal against military service on the ground of conscience dismissed, had failed to report at the King Edward Barracks after being duly notified; Chamberlain, who had already served a sentence of imprisonment for three months for failing to report for service, had failed to obey an order to parade to receive an issue of uniform; and Steffens had failed to obey an order to report for medical exnm i nnl inn