Youth Broke Into House

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31215, 12 November 1966, Page 3

Youth Broke Into House

(N.Z. Press Associations

WELLINGTON, Nov. 11. Armed with a doubleedged sheath knife, a bottle of chloroform, and carrying a torch, an 18-year-old youth broke into a Titahi Bay house on October 20, Sergeant A. H. Colegrave told Mr R. D. Jamieson, S.M., today. The youth pleaded guilty to a charge of breaking and en-

tering. A charge of assault was withdrawn by the police. The Magistrate suppressed the youth’s name pending a medical report. Sergeant Colegrave said the youth had left his home at 2 a.m. on October 20. He climbed in the window of a house in Titahi Bay and went into a bedroom where a 22-year-old girl and two younger girls were sleeping. He poured a quantity of chloroform on a sheet drawn up around the older girl’s face. This action woke the girl up and she started screaming.

The youth grabbed the girl

by the throat in an attempt to stifle her screams.

When she did not stop screaming, he ran out of the room. He tried to escape by the front door of the house but could not open it. The youth was apprehended by the girl’s father and brother while he was trying to escape. They held him until the police arrived. When interviewed by the police, the youth could offer no explanation other than he had done it for excitement.

The Magistrate remanded the accused on bail to November 18 for probation and medical reports.