SUPREME COURT Charges Of Assault And Unlawful Entry Fail

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30368, 18 February 1964, Page 8

SUPREME COURT Charges Of Assault And Unlawful Entry Fail

A jury in the Supreme Court yesterday found John Joseph Hill, aged 22, a workman, not guilty on charges of unlawful entry and assault Mr Justice Macarthur discharged Hill. Mr C. M. Roper appeared for the Crown, and Mr G. R, Lascelles for the accused. Hili was charged with unlawful entry into the enclosed yard of Auto Parts, Ltd., at 48 Tuam street on October 16 with intent to commit a crime, and with aggravated assault of Constable A. R. McFarlane on the same morning. Evidence was given by Rhoderick Clifton Mayers, a night watchman, that about 1 a.m. on October 16 he became suspicious of a car which was moving near his buildings. He met Constable McFarlane and they stayed in the yard of Auto Parts, Ltd., for some time, but no-one came. He left the constable in the yard.. He returned later [with a dog and was unable to find the constable.

Constable McFarlane said that at 3.30 a.m. he saw a man climbing the wall and coming into the enclosed yard. As the man walked up the yard he stopped, him and' asked him what he was doing. The man replied that he was looking for a part for his car. He was taking the intruder towards the main building to search him when the man pulled a small hatchet from his pocket and struggled to escape. In the struggle he received a blow on the head, and the man escaped, said the witness. After receiving treatment for

his wound at the hospital, he returned to the police station and inspected about 100 photographs before identifying a photograph of the accused' as being • that of his assailant. On October 21 he went with Detective Porteous to a hotel bar and picked out’ the accused from those present. Detective Senior-Sergeant T. Thomson said that the accused was interviewed by the police and denied any knowledge of the affair. Detective D. Porteous said that the accused was identified by Constable McFarlane on October 21 in the private bar of the Clarendon Hotel. There were 11 men in the bar at the time. Mr Lascelles called no evidence for the defence. In his address to the jury Mr Lascelles said that this could well be a case of mistaken identity. The accused had given a straightforward account of his movements on that evening, that he had been in the White Hart Hotel until 11 p.m., and then had returned to his flat to bed. The police had not been able to disprove this.