Supreme Court ATTEMPTED RAPE

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29910, 25 August 1962, Page 15

Supreme Court ATTEMPTED RAPE

Two Youths Sentenced The present situation of two youths convicted of at•"mrrted rape was a very good and sad i’lustration of ■vhat cou’.d happen to young persons today who were living away from their homes and earoing enough money to get themselves into a g-eat deal of trouble, said Mr Justice Richmond, yesterday He sentenced David Joseph Mataira aged 17 <Mr G S Brockett) to be detained at a detention centre, with the special condition of the subsequent 12 months' probation that he pay £25 towards the costs of the prosecution and abstain from liquor Al R e Tuatara, aged 17 (M’ A Hearn* was given 18 months' probation, fined £75. and ordered to pay £25 towards the cost of the prosecution and abstain from liquor His Honour said he accepted that b ’th youths were aware that the girl concerned in their offences had extremely loose morals He wanted to make it clear, he scid. that the case was not one of those bad cases of rape that had come before the courts in recent years where gangs of young men had been involved in revolting attacks on young women His treatment of Mataira and Tuatara was in no way a departure from the courts policy directed to that bad type of case The girl involved in this case had admitted that she was of very loose moral character, and both youths were aware of it No lasting injury or even im-j medmte hurt had been done to her Nevertheless, the con vic-1 trtn was for attempted rape and it was a case where a combination of two boys had used force. It was impossible to gloss over the seriousness of that type of behaviour Both youths had been earning good wages but neither of them had any savings Both needed some sort of a jolt to head them off into a different direction. A physical examination had shown Tuatara unfit to be sent to a detention centre. He would have no trouble paying the fine and it would leave him less money to spend on himself His Honour said he thought two or three months at a detention centre would do Mataira a lot of good. Plant Seminar. —A seminar on the measurement of plant communities will be he’d bv the University of Canterbury in October It is expected that members of the N«w Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science, botanists, plant ecologists, and catchment board workers will join in the field course.