Father and daughter committed for trial

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32737, 14 October 1971, Page 10

Father and daughter committed for trial

A man and his 18-year-old daughter were committed to the Supreme Court for trial after the taking of depositions in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, before Messrs A. W. Moreland and R. L. Tinker, Justices of the Peace, on a joint charge of conspiring to commit unlawfully a miscarriage. Ronald John King, aged 45, a driver, and Faye Lynette King, aged 18, a 1 clerk, both represented by Mr M. T. Glue, pleaded not guilty. They were allowed bail until the trial. An application for interim suppression of names was refused. Janice Elizabeth Cowper,! who originally appeared as an associate in the conspiracy charge, was not in fact involved, said Senior-Sergeant F. G. Mulcare. His application to have her name deleted from the two informations was granted. Timothy Philip Milne, a farm labourer, said that he began associating with Miss King in late June and subsequently learnt that Miss King was pregnant and that he was responsible. On September 17 and September 24 the defendants discussed the possibility of an abortion and King wanted him to pay half the cost, about $lOO. On September 27 King rang him and said that if he did not pay he would “kick Faye out. “I was pretty upset," the witness said. “I said I’d come round and see her. I said I was against abortion.” The witness said that he went with his brother, Christopher, and Mignonne AHeen Glentworth, his brother’s de

facto wife, to King’s home, taking a note which said that hd would pay $lOO, not for the abortion, but to help Miss King and to relieve his mind. King refused to sign the note and told him to burn the note, which he did. The money was given to Miss King. Miss Glentworth said she formed the impression that the abortion would take place on September 28, so she called the police. Detective Sergeant J. G. Howell. said that he interviewed Miss King on September 28. She said she was three months pregnant. “I said my main concern I was for her life and in no circumstances could I allow the abortion to take place,” the witness said. “I advised her to seek a legal abortion by qualified medical staff. She said a doctor had told her that if she had a baby she could die as a result and I advised her strongly that if that was the case she should approach the doctor with a view of obtaining an abortion at a hospital.” The witness said he later interviewed King and told him that if his daughter died as a result of the intended abortion he could be liable as a party to murder. , Detective Senior-Sergeant A. S. Lynskey said that he interviewed both defendants on the evening of September 28.

“I said to the defendant King that at that stage we were not concerned with the identity of the abortionist but that it was our duty to see that his daughter was not aborted. I told him that socalled back-street abortions were against the law and that if he went ahead with the back-street abortion he would be charged.” More attempts to persuade King not to allow his daughter to be aborted failed, so both King and his daughter were arrested.