MAN FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULT ON WOMAN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27426, 12 August 1954, Page 13

MAN FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULT ON WOMAN

, -A Jup y the Supreme Court yes!Sfn2 y Iou ? d Joseph Martin, aged 38, a a—WoTOr driver, guilty on a'cnarge ox assaulting a woman on March 18. The jury returned their verdict after a retirement half an hour. Adams remanded Martin m custody for sentence. The Crown Prosecutor (Mr A. W. grown) appeared for the Crown. Mr j appeared for Martin, who Pleaded not guilty to each of three alternative dharges—that he assaulted tne woman with intent to commit rape, }“ a l pe indecently assaulted her, and that he assaulted her. » The counts were put in their order Of seriQuspess and were in the alterna* pve, said the Crown Prosecutor out-imina-the Crown case to the jury. The events leading up to the charges occurred on the night of March 17. 'Hie complainant was aged 26, married, with four young children, and at the time of the alleged offence was well advanced in pregnancy. The accused was a married man with six children, in most cases of this kind the events occurred secretly but here there was at least one eye-witness of a portion of tne. assault. The circumstances made it Plam that there was a serious assault. The woman and the accused went to a party on the night of March 17 and a certain amount ,of beer was drunk, said Mr Brown. They stayed to- midnight and went with others to a restaurant for a meal. Eventually the woman and the accused went to the home of the woman’s parents where she w’as living. More beer was drunk there. The woman would say in evidence that Martin was quite friendly at first but the beer made him obstreperous and those in the- house tried to persuade him to go home. A taxi was called about 2 ajn., but Martin Would not leave and the taxi was paid off. About 3 a.m. Martin agreed to l? ave , asked the woman tq go to the telephone box and call a taxi. She went in her bare feet and Martin walked along the street with her. She would say that Martin wanted her to have a drink of beer from a bottle and she refused. Martin hit her. She got away and ran. He caught her at the corner of Antigua and Brougham streets, He pulled her along the street, dragged her by the hair, and eventually pushed her into Sydenham Park where he knocked her down. She was screaming as loudly as she could. A man named Powell, living next the park, heard screams. He looked out of a window and saw a mah pulling the woman by the hair. A milkman also heard the screams.

Police Called were called and found the woman sitting in the park, said Mr Brown. Her clothing was disarranged and there were marks of violence on her. Martin was found hiding behind a tree at the other side of the park. He was taken to the police station where he made a long statement giving his version of the affair. This statement differed in several particulars from the account given by the woman, said the Crown Prosecutor. The statement implied a certain amount of consent, at least at the beginning, and that the woman made up to him while they were walking along the street to the telephone box. But Martin also said that the woman resisted his advances. That was the main ingredient in the first charge. Something might be made of the fact that the woman foolishly went with the accused at that hour in the morning, said Mr Brown. It might be suggested that she could be called a loose woman and that she rather invited the accused to go into the park. Some people might say she deserved what she got “I am bound to tell you that is not so,” said the Crown Prosecutor. “She may have been foolish in going along the street with the accused. She may have drunk more beer than was good for her and that may have made her more careless in certain respects. But that is no excuse for the savage attack made on her by the accused.” Evidence on those lines was given by the woman: by Stanley Walter Powell, of 1 Durham street; Douglas Boutton Redmond, a milk vendor;

Constable VT. J. Bracks; Sergeant A. E. K. Keown; and Sergeant J. Cart.nelL 1 The Defence Joseph Martin, the accused, gave evidence. He said that the complain* ant came up to soiwe people he was with and whom she knew, while they were talking on the street on the night of March 17., Five of them, including the complainant, then went to the Royal Hotel, where they did an hour and a half drinking. They left about 9.45 p.m., and he bought half a bottle of gin and six bottles of beer. The complainant carried the gin. They went to a party in King street, where he tried to do a hula dance, and the complainant tried to do h, too, said Martin. At times during the party she put her arm round him, and he did the same to her. They left King street about midnight and went to a restaurant for a meal. He then de* cided to go home, but the complainant said: “No. You’re not going home, You’re going with me." He said; Where to?” She replied: “Home to see my people..” She suggested that he get more beer, and he got some from a hotel. He went Vith he* to her people’s place and drank beer with her and her parents. About 2 a.m. he was going home, and a taxi was called, said Martin. He had a look at the beer that waa left, and thought it would be better to finish it, so he paid the taxi off. The complainant asked him to give her mother £l, as she had been looking after the complainant’s children. He gave her £l. The complainant asked for £1 for herself, and he gave it to her, The beer was about finished and he thought he would go home. . The complainant said she would show him a telephone box and walked along the street with him, said Martin, ohe was barefooted. She then said she would show him how to- get to Colombo street and back to town. They were Doth pretty wobbly on their legs at that time. They were at the park when she screamed. He asked her what she was screaming for. He then took her by the arm and led her into the park, where he sat her down and talked to her. He definitely did not hit her with his fist. Thinking it over, he considered he had been led on all night. He did not interfere with her in any way. Thomas Martin, father of the accused, said he saw the complainant in the Grand Hotel two or three weeks after the Lower Court hearing. She went up to him and asked him if he was Joseph Martin’s father. He said he was and that it would not be long until the trial. She said she would not be there, and that the police were making more out of it than was really in it.

Mr W. F. Brown, addressing the jury, submitted that the woman was a consenting party, so far as the first two charges were concerned.

His Honour summed up and the jury retired at 4.50 p.m.. returning at 5.20 p.m. with thsir verdict of guilty of common assault. No verdict was taken on the other two counts.

ALLEGED ASSAULT ON GIRL CASE TO BE HEARD TODAY David George Palmer, aged 25, a labourer, pleaded not .guilty in the Supreme Court last evening, before Mr Justice Adams and a jury, to a charge that on May 1 at Coutts Island h« assaulted a girl aged 11. After the jury had been empanelled, the case was adjourned until this morning. Ihe Crown Prosecutor (Mr A. W. Brown) is appearing for the Crown, and Mr H. S. Thomas for Palmer.