CONVERSION OF CAR
SCHOOL GIRLS APPEAR IN COURT ATTEMPT TO RUN AWAY FROM HOME (New Zealand Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, April 18. Three of four Palmerston North schoolgirls who converted a car last Wednesday night and drove to Hastings in an attempt to run away from home were dealt with by Mr L. M. Inglis, S.M., in the Palmerston North Children’s Court today. The fourth is at present at a Child Welfare Department home in Wellington awaiting psychiatric examination. Sub-Inspector J. M. Sutherland said when the Court sat this morning that three of the girls, all unhappy at home, decided to rim away. They persuaded the fourth to accompany them. They saw a car parked in Palmerston North that one of the girls could drive, and they set off for Hastings. “I think they were glad when they were picked up in Hastings,” he said. “None of them was feeling a bit happy by then.”
The Magistrate remanded the first girl, aged 13, until May 2, when her home situation—her mother and father are divorced—will be investigated by the Court. In the meantime, the girl was placed under the supervision of the Child Welfare Department. The second girl, also aged 13, was discharged into her parents’ custody. The case of the third girl was stood down by the Magistrate until the afternoon to enable the police to ensure her father’s presence in Court. “We want her out of her father’s hands, but we also want her father here,” the Magistrate said. “These people, by not coming here, show the extent of their interest in their children, and that is half the trouble.” The child welfare officer reported that she had not yet been able to get a report from the girl’s father, “because he is still drunk.”
The father appeared in the afternoon, and was rebuked for not having been in attendance during the morning. The girl was given into the care of the Child Welfare Department as a ward of the State. Her sister will be her foster mother, her father agreeing to pay towards her maintenance.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27637, 19 April 1955, Page 7
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348CONVERSION OF CAR Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27637, 19 April 1955, Page 7
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