PARENTS SENTENCED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29679, 24 November 1961, Page 8

PARENTS SENTENCED

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 23. The conduct of the parents was such as to strike at the basis of decent family life, Mr Justice Haslam said in the Supreme Court at Wellington today when a married couple appeared for sentence on charges of using an instrument on their 16-year-old daughter with intent to procure a miscarriage.

Trevor Joseph Mathers, a tree-felling contractor, of Raumati South, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on one charge and convicted and discharged on two other charges. His wife, Winifred Pearl Mathera, who was convicted on one charge and for whom the jury had brought in a recommendation for mercy, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. His Honour said that, by the crudest of methods, the parents had operated on their own daughter in her own home. After seeing and hearing the girl he was satisfied she had no alternative but to submit to the treatment. Fortunately there

were no grave physical consequences.

The jury had correctly found that Mathers had been the dominant partner in the crime. He had nine previous convictions for dishonesty but those would be disregarded for present purposes. His Honour said he was prepared to accept that Mrs Mathers was dominated by her husband and she would be given credit for her previous good character.