GAOLED FOR MONTH

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30191, 24 July 1963, Page 12

GAOLED FOR MONTH

Father Of 11 Children (N.Z. Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, July 22. A farther of 11 children, who lives wi‘.ih bis wife and all the children in a house at 129 Ferguson street, Palmerston North, has been sentenced to gaol for one month for the unjustifiably heavy punishment of a 14-yeair-old son The prison term will be followed by a year’s probation, with the special condition that he bake a prohibition order and pay medical expenses of £3 17s. The mw, aged 42, is John Mika Hafcaraia, who was found guilty, in the Magistrate’s Court this afternoon of assaulting Maurice Mika Hakaraia on July 12. The courts would always support a parent or other person in authority who chastised a child, provided the chastisement was reasonable, said Mr D. G. Sinclair. S.M. If it went beyond reasonable punishment it constituted assault. To hit a child in the face with an open hand, punch his face and hit him over the head with a piece of wood, far exceeded the bounds of reason. A fine would be an imposition on the children so the defendant must go to gaol, ♦he Magistirtae said.