MAGISTRATES COURT Periodic detention for “brutal assault”

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 21

MAGISTRATES COURT Periodic detention for “brutal assault”

i A man who was said to have dragged a motorist out of his car, punching him and kicking him so that he was paralysed from the waist down for four days, was sentenced to periodic detention for six months and placed on probation for 18 months by Mr W. F. Brown, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. | Rex Philip Madsen, aged 23, a signwriter, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Trevor Thomas King on October 31. Evidence was given by the complainant that the defendant’s car had been following very closely behind his as he drove along Memorial Avenue. To warn him that he was too close, the complainant applied his brakes, forcing the defendant to brake also. The witness said that when he stopped later the defendant walked up to his car and punched him twice, stunning him. The defendant then i dragged him out of his car i and kicked him several times ,as he lay in the middle of j the road. He was later admitted to Christchurch Hospital with a suspected broken spine and was there four days in a [paralysed state. He was off work for three weeks. In evidence, the defendant said that when the complainI ant braked, forcing him to do the same, his wife had been i thrown forward, hitting her head against the dashboard. She was. eight months pregi nant at the time. Later 'he had talked to : the complainant who had said they would “have it out.” The complainant had opened his car door and kicked him in the stomach. : Outside the car they had i grappled and he had then punched the complainant twice. “He fell down on the road in front of me, and as he was falling I stumbled over him and my foot kicked him in his left shoulder. 1 did not really intend to kick him, , but did so as I was off balance and jumped over him to regain my balance. I did not kick him again,” said the defendant. Convicting the defendant, the Magistrate said he was satisfied the complainant had been kicked several times. “This was a brutal assault on an older man. After two I punches you resorted to the despicable action of kicking I this man as he lay on the ground. . “Whatever the situation may have been over the driving, and I don’t think there was anything really faulty with it, this cannot justify a citizen taking the law into ' his own hands,” said the Magistrate. For the defendant, Mr L. M. O’Reilly said he had ■

i something of a personality : problem and had an aggresl sive tendency. "WANTON” ASSAULT A fine of $50 —$25 of it to be paid to the complainant—was imposed on Bernard Warner Healey (Mr M. J. Glue), for what the Magistrate described as “a wan , ton and unprovoked assault.” Healey pleaded guilty to assaulting Raymond Edward Moroney on August 20 but Mr Glue called evidence because he said the police statement of facts . differed from his client’s description of the incident. Mr Moroney had approached Healey about a $1 wager on A game of bar billiards which Mr Moroney had won, the Court was told. The bet had been made by a girl Mr Moroney took to be Healey’s girl-friend. Mr Moroney said in evidence that outside a hotel Healey approached him from behind, swung him round, and hit him twice, breaking his nose and inflicting injuries which required hospital treatment. Healey maintained he had hit Mr Moroney only once, and that he had done so because Mr Moroney was annoying him about the $1 bet. “This was a very unnecessary and unpleasant assault,” the Magistrate told Healey, noting that Healey had a previous conviction for assault and one for wilful damage. But he agreed with Mr Glue that the matter could be dealt with by a fine. TOOK TRUCK A youth who took a truck valued at $4OO from an open yard at Lyttelton and drove it along Gladstone Quay, causing serious damage to the driving mechanism of the truck, was convicted and remanded on. bail to November 27 for a probation officer’s report and sentence after he had pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully taking the truck. He is Maurice Desmond Kelliher, aged 19, a ship’s officer cadet. Sergeant O. A. Hume said that about 4.30 p.m. on November 19, the owner of the truck took it to an open yard at Lyttelton for repairs. The keys were left in the vehicle. About 10.30 p.m. that evening a police patrol saw the truck being driven along Gladstone Quay towards Cashin Quay. As the police approached the truck stopped and a group of youths jumped out and ran off. As a result of the truck being driven serious damage was caused to the driving mechanism and a mobile crane had to be used to remove it from the road. Three other youths who also appeared on charges of unlawfully taking the truck pleaded not guilty. They were remanded on bail to November 23. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR A young girl who swore and placed her dog on the table in a restaurant in Invercargill after another person eating at the table had asked her to remove the dog from the restaurant was convicted and fined $2O when she appeared on a charge of behaving in a disorderly manner on August 23. Rosemarie Gayleen Sword, aged 19, a waitress, pleaded guilty to the charge. Sergeant Hume said that after Sword left the restaurant she sat in a car parked outside. When she was asked to leave the car she walked to another parked car nearby and kicked it. When interviewed by the police she denied the offence. An application for suppression of name was refused. RESISTED CONSTABLE For resisting a constable in the execution of his duty, Keith Daniel Everest, aged 17, a timber worker (Mr S. R. Maling), was ( convicted and fined $4O. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. Another charge against him, to which he also pleaded not guilty, of using obscene language, was dismissed. Constable G. R. Donald said that about 11.40 a.m. on November 6 he was on patrol duty in Cathedral Square when he saw Everest and another man arguing. Everest was shaking his fist at the other person and It was obvious a fight was about to take place. After he had asked the two men to move on several youths enticed Everest to provoke the police, Constable Donald said. Although he had his back to the group of people he could see them clearly in the reflection of a shop window. He saw Everest’s lips move and heard him use the obscene language. He told Everest that he was under arrest but Everest moved away and then began to struggle violently. A traffic officer and another constable came to his assistance and finally Everest was handcuffed. The Magistrate dismissed the charge of obscene language because he said that it had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt There was no doubt, however, that the constable genuinely believed that Everest had used the language and he was quite right to arrest him. “I do not accept the evidence that the defendant put forward that the constable just set upon him,” he said. ASSAULTED WIFE A man who struck his wife in the eye with his closed fist and

then locked her out of the house after they had had an argument, was convicted and remanded on bail to November 27 for a probation officer’s report and sentence when he appeared on a charge of assaulting his wife on November 19. Rodney James Green, aged 23. a driver, pleaded guilty to the charge. Sergeant Hume said that when the police arrived at Green’s house in Linwood Avenue, Green behaved in an aggressive manner, waving an axe in one hand. He quietened down, however, when told to do so and admitted the offence, but had no explanation for it. He had been drinking at the time. UNLAWFULLY TOOK CAR A youth who unlawfully took a car valued at $450 and drove it to the Cashmere High School where he committed a burglary, was convicted and remanded in custody to November 27 for a probation officer’s report and sentence on one charge of unlawfully taking a car and one charge of burglary. Brian Desmond Marsh, aged 17, a spray painter, pleaded guiltv to each charge Sergeant Hume said that about 1 a.m. on November 20 as the result of information received, the police went to the Cashmere High School. Marsh was found in a passageway in the school. He said that he had gone inside to look for money but had found nothing. He had gained entry by breaking a window. On November 19, Marsh hadgot into a parked car which had the keys in the ignition, said Sergeant Hume. He drove the car around the city before going to the Cashmere High School. The car had since been recovered. FINED FOR FIGHTING For fighting with another youth outside the entrance to a cafe in Manchester Street on November 20, Charles Wayne Kennard. aged 20. a meat inspector was convicted and fined $2O. He pleaded guilty to the charge. Sergeant Hume said that Kennard told the police that the fight was a difference between friends. OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR Pleading guilty to a charge of behaving in an. offensive manner in the foyer of the Regent Theatre on November 19. Michael Donoghue, aged 33. a moulder was convicted and fined $25Sergeant Hume said that Donoghue was intoxicated at the time

of the offence. He admitted to the police that he had been drinking in several hotels throughout the day. OBSCENE LANGUAGE For using obscene language in Oxford Terrace on November 19 lan David Sale, aged 19, a printer, was convicted and fined $25. He pleaded guilty to the charge. The offence occurred when Sale was with .a group of young people drinking bottles of beer and milling about the footpath in Oxford Terrace. FINED $35 A fine of $35 was imposed on Alan John Wilson, aged 19., a timber worker, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of using obscene language in Oxford Terrace on November 19. Sergeant Hume said that about 11.50 p.m. on November 19 a police patrol stopped near a group of young pfeople in Oxford Terrkce. After two people had been placed in the patrol car Wilson used the language as the police drove off. SWORE AT POLICE David John Calder, aged 19. an apprentice painter, was convicted and fined $2O when he pleaded guilty to a charge of using obscene language in Oxford Terrace on November 19. Sefgeant Hume said the defendant had been one of a group of youths drinking from beer bottles on the footpath outside the Clarendon Hotel at 11.15 p.m. The defendant was twice told to move on by the police and he then used the obscene language. FINED FOR DAMAGE Pleading guilty to a charge of wilfully damaging a wroughtiron lamp standard to the value of $5O, George Alastair Duncan Haylock, aged 28. a marine engineer was fined $2O and ordered to make restitution of $5O. Haylock, from an overseas ship at Lyttelton, had broken the ornamented lamp and standard when leaving a private home to which he and two of his friends had been Invited, the Court was told. BENCH WARRANTS A bench warrant was Issued for the arrest of lan Stanley Luscombe when he failed to appear on a summons to show why he should not attend periodic detention for the non-pay-ment of fines. A bench warrant was also issued for the arrest of Norman Barry Johnstone who failed to appear on a summons for the non-payment of fines. TRAFFIC OFFENCES In traffic prosecutions brought by the Police Department, convictions were entered and penalties imposed as follows with Court costs $5 in each case:— Failed to give way: Wilfred Gordon Lock, $5, disqualified for three months and ordered to attend a course of traffic lectures. Unable to stop in half clear distance: Marion Patricia Blackmore, $l4. (Before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M.) RELEASED ON PROBATION A man whose name was suppressed (Mr D. M. Palmer), was released on probation for one' year when he appeared for sentence on a charge of theft ofi five packets of hair colour valued at $2.25, the property of supermarket, on August 22. He was also ordered to live and work where directed and take such psychiatric or medical! treatment as directed by the probation officer. The Magistrate said that the' medical report showed that the ; theft was not the ordinary kind; of theft as the articles stolen were of no real practical value to the defendant. It appeared that there was some need for supervision. (Before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M.) J IDLE AND DISORDERLY I Peter Graham Lawrence, aged 22, unemployed, was admitted to probation for 12 months when he appeared for sentence on a charge of being idle and disorderly at Lyttelton on November The Magistrate said this was Lawrence’s third conviction for the offence. He accepted that Lawrence had special personal difficulties but he had it in his power to stay out of any further trouble.

“If you have got any sense you will keep away from Lyttelton,” he said. FIRM FINED $75 A fine of $75 was imposed on C. S. Luney, Ltd (Mr A. D. Holland), after the company had been convicted on a charge of not having a on a working platform fixed as near as practicable to a height of 36in as required by the regulations. The case had been heard earlier, the company pleading not guilty, and the Magistrate delivered his reserved decision yesterday. On June 10 the company’s employees were working at Thomas Borthwick and Sons* works at Belfast painting the inside of the roof of a new fellmongering building, the Magistrate said. It was alleged that the single guard-rail on the mobile scaffolding used to reach the roof was not as near as practicable to 36in from the working platform as required by the regulations. He felt it had been proved the rail, at 24 to 27in, was not as high as was practicable, the Magistrate said, and it had been shown that after a fatal accident in which a man fell from the scaffold the height of the rail was raised. Mr Holland said that although the prosecution had arisen because of a fatal accident, it was acknowledged by the prosecution that the breach was not causative of the accident which caused the man’s death. There was evidence that a coupling which came loose was last fixed by the man himself. The defendant cqmpany was very conscious of safety provisions and was very concerned about the prosecution, Mr Holland said. There was no suggestion that the company was deliberately flouting the regulations. The company had a good safety record. The tragedy of the man’s death should not be visited on the company, the Magistrate said, but a substantial payment was called for. The company was ordered to pay the fine, Court costs, and $35 legal fees. I