MAGISTRATE’S COURT Charge Of Assaulting Wife Dismissed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30338, 14 January 1964, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Charge Of Assaulting Wife Dismissed

Saying that it was not safe to convict the accused on the evidence of his wife, Mr K. H. J. Headifen, SM, dismissed a charge of assault against Alfred Richard Quarterman, aged 48, a barman, in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Quarterman (Mr R. G. Blunt) pleaded not guilty. Prudence Quarterman said that her husband smacked her across her face two or three times with his open hand at 6.30 p.m. on January 12. He called her ail the filthy names under the sun, and later he hit her in the mouth with his fist, knocking her off a stool. He then kicked her on the leg when she was lying on the floor. To Mr Blunt, the witness said she had had two brandies that morning because she felt ill. She had obtained a separation from her husband in October, but denied having any association with another man. She

denied drinking beer that day. The accused said he served his wife with two brandies when she called at the hotel Where he worked, and later he saw her with a flagon of beer. When he got home he found her sitting with a glass of beer and the flagon twothirds empty. He said she must have bruised her face in a fall when drunk. He denied hitting her. The Magistrate said that Mrs Quarterman’s evidence was supported to some extent by the bruise on her face, but he was not impressed by her evidence. He did not ■believe she had only two brandies and was satisfied she did buy a flagon of beer. FINED FOR ASSAULT Charged with assaulting his wife on January 11, Bala Papp, aged 38 (Mr R. G. Blunt), was fined £5. He pleaded not guilty. When Papp’s wife declined to give evidence against him, Sergeant V. F. Townshend, who prosecuted, said he had been informed that Mr W. A. Wilson, Who originally appeared for Papp, had approached Papp’s wife that morning. Mr Wilson said he had talked to Mrs Papip in the presence of a constable and later she had approached 'him, but he had not suggested that she refuse to give evidence.

After an adjournment, Mr Wilson said he had considered the matter and in the circumstances could only as,k for leave to withdraw and to let Mr Blunt take the case.

The Magistrate granted Mr Wilson’s request, but said: “In my view you have done nothing that has warranted condemnation by me at all.” The Magistrate said he was satisfied with the evidence of two constables that Papp did hit his wife. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR After saying he had seriously considered getting a probation officer’s report and sentencing her to a maximum of three months’ imprisonment, the Magistrate fined Doreen Frances Paviell £lO on a charge of behaving in a disorderly manner while drunk in Hereford street on January 12. Paviell pleaded not guilty. Constable M. Hall said that at 1.5 a.m. Paviell’s husband was arrested and taken to the Central Police Station. At 2.30 a.m. Paviell arrived at the station and demanded to see her husband. When told it was not possible, she screamed abuse at the police and was ejected. She continued to abuse the police from the street. She was drunk at the time. Sergeant Townshend said that Paviell’s problem was drink. She had !• previous convictions. The accused said she was upset because of her husband. She wanted to bail him out. OBSCENE LANGUAGE Leo John Paviell, aged 48, was fined £l5 when he pleaded guilty to using obscene language on January 12. Paviell locked his wife out of the house, and she was not allowed to enter until the police arrived, said Sergeant Townshend. A heated argument ensued, and a constable in the street heard Paviell use the language complained of. FINED £l5 Dallas Earl Emmanuel, aged 36, a sheerer, pleaded guilty to wilfully damaging a pane of glass on January 12 and resisting a constable on the same date. He was fined £5 on the first charge and £lO on the second. Emmanuel attended a party at the complainant's bouse, said Sergeant Townshend. Asked to leave, he walked out the front door and around to the roar, where he broke the glass to unlock the door. The police were called, and Emmanuel struggled violently and had to be handcuffed. He had been drinking, but was not drunk. Emmanuel said he could not remember much about what happened. He could not remember being put in the cells. INDECENT ACTS Pleading guilty to three charges of committing

[indecent acts on December 31 and January 4, Alfred Thomas Vincent, aged 25, was convicted and remanded on bail to January 20 for sentence. Vincent made friends with boys in the Northcote area, where he was employed as a truck driver on a roadmaking job, said Sergeant Townshend. The mother of two of the boys complained to the police. FALSE PRETENCES Pleading guilty to charges of false pretences to the value of £3 at Inangahua Junction on December 7 and theft of a cheque form, Jack Godfrey White, 24, a labourer, was convicted and remanded on bail to January 20 for sentence. SHOPLUTIING Charged with stealing groceries worth 8s 5d from Woolworths, Ltd., Sydenham, on December 11, Pauline Alison Gardiner, aged 28, was convicted and fined £lO. She pleaded guilty. Sergeant Townshend said ■that Gardiner had Is 2d in her possession when he was arrested. She said her husband did not give her enough money to buy groceries.

ASSAULTED WIFE Charged with assaulting his wife on January 10, Tuliese Tooala, aged 34, -was convicted and remanded on bail to January 20 for sentence. He pleaded guilty. The Magistrate ordered Tooala to keep away from his wife during the period of the remand. LIQUOR CHARGES Seven youths who bought nine half-gallon jars of beer and drank them in the sandhills at New Brighton pleaded guilty by letter to being minors drinking liquor in a public place on November 27. Each youth was fined £5. They were Michael Alexander Bellamy, aged 18, Maurice James Bellamy, aged 20, Evan William Christensen, aged 17, Brian Stewart Robin Ingram, aged 18, Kevin Leonard Rowlands, aged 17, Michael Thomas Whiting, aged 17, and Colin Peart, aged 18. Peart was also fined £5 on a charge of breaking glass on the road.

I REMANDED William Rex Turner, aged 23, was remanded on bail to I January 23 on a charge of i driving in Riccarton road while under the influence of drink or drugs on January Hl. Vivian Archie Smith, aged 18, was remanded to Timaru on January 15 on a charge of unlawfully taking a car at Timaru on January 13. On a charge of threatening to kill on December 26, a man, whose name was suppressed, was remanded on bail to January 16.