POLICE MATRON INJURED

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27683, 13 June 1955, Page 10

POLICE MATRON INJURED

FIGHT WITH GIRL ON CELL FLOOR

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO STOP ESCAPE' (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 12. A police matron had her leg broken this afternoon in a fight to stop a young girl from escaping from the cells at the Central Police Station. The girl had thrown a blanket over the matron, and as they fought on the floor, she hammered at the matron with the heel of a shoe. The girl is 14| years old. She was being held on delinquency charges. At 11 p.m. today, the girl was arrested at the Maori Community Centre, Fanshawe street, and returned to the cells. Mrs I. G. Leath, the matron, was taken to the Auckland Hospital by ambulance. There it was found she had 3 badly wrenched knee cap, a split fracture, and torn ligaments. She will be off duty for some time. The girl had prepared carefully for her gaol break. She had a dummy figure in the cell bed, and was waiting behind the door with a blanket when Mrs Leath entered about 2.30 p.m. to clear away the dinner dishes. Fall on Concrete Floor “The first I knew,’ I was fighting in the folds of the blanket,” said Mrs Leath. “I grabbed at the girl, and got hold of her hair. Then I got her round the waist, and we crashed over on to the concrete floor.” .The girl had a shoe in her hand, and she struck several times at Mrs Leath. As she broke away, Mrs Leath caught her by a leg, but by then Mrs Leath had been injured and was unable to keep the hold. Mrs Leath lay on the cell floor while other inmates yelled and screamed behind their locked cell doors. She dragged herself along the concrete floor to the block entrance, and called for the watchhouse constable. It was some minutes before her cries for help were heard.

“The girl had been treated particularly well,” said Mrs Leath. “I got her books to read, and she seemed quiet enough.” It was the first time in 16 years as a police matron at Auckland that Mrs Leath had had any inmate attempt a gaol break. Often when dangerous prisoners are confined to the cells, a constable accompanies the matron on her rounds. The girl had been a model prisoner. As soon as the escape was discovered. police patrol cars were sent out. The girl is under the control of the Child Welfare Department. She had been in the cells since Friday.