CROWN CASE REJECTED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31196, 21 October 1966, Page 7

CROWN CASE REJECTED

Acquittal In One Minute After a defence submission in a Supreme Court case yesterday that the principal Crown witness had been “more like a defence witness,” a 24-year-old workman, Gordon Pikiao Rangi, was found not guilty on a charge of indecent assault on a girl of 15. The all-male jury was one minute in reaching this verdict. Mr Justice Macarthur ordered Rangi’s discharge. The girl, whose name was suppressed, admitted absconding with a friend from a childwelfare home on the evening of September 4, and going to a Worcester street address, where Rangi lived. The charge against Rangi—who pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr W. A. Wilson—was based on the evidence of a police constable who found Rangi and the girl in bed together, both partly clad, and on remarks Rangi was alleged to have made when questioned. “Consent Immaterial” The Crown Prosecutor (Mr N. W. Williamson) told the jury that any consent by the girl was, in law, immaterial, since she was under 16. The girl, in evidence, said she had been tired and lay down in a bed, where Rangi had joined her—but nothing had happened between them. Cross-examined by Mr Wilson, the girl said she had had no intention of having sexual intercourse with Rangi, as there were other people in the room. No evidence was called by the defence. Addressing the jury, Mr Wilson said it was not sufficient for the Crown to show suspicion, or impropriety, but it must establish the offence of an indecent assault beyond a reasonable doubt. The girl, in denying any assault, had been more like a defence witness, “and I ask you to accept her as such,” Mr Wilson said. His Honour, in summing up, said he had had grave misgivings about the Crown’s case, and had seriously considered stopping the trial and discharging Rangi.