Pregnant woman sent to gaol

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33917, 9 August 1975, Page 2

Pregnant woman sent to gaol

(N.Z. Press Association; AUCKLAND, August 8. A first offender, Olive Cribb, who is six months pregnant, wept today as she was gaoled for three years for “a vicious assault” on a 75-year-old Ponsonby widow.

Cribb, aged 22, and unmarried, appeared in the Supreme Court after admitting that she caused Mrs Vera Theresa Lett grievous bodily harm on March 26 with intent to commit robbery. Mr Justice Henry said that although Cribb did not go to Mrs Lett’s stationery ' shop in Ponsonby armed, she used a ball point pen to I considerable effect, then a broom handle, and finally a i knife.

Counsel (Mr J. H. Haigh) had said that the sight Cribb left, and the state she put Mrs Lett in, was one “which would horrify anybody.”

His Honour said that Mrs Lett’s reaction was that Cribb was trying to kill her. "The court has to look to the protection of the public, and this is a time when vicious attacks are all too frequent,” he said. “I take into account that this is your first offence, but it is a serious one. Your pregnancy is a matter which gives me grave concern. “It is the duty of the court to impose substantially less than what would be imposed if you were not pregnant.

“Your sentence is reduced so that you will be able to be released at a time when your baby will not be too old for you to renew your relationship with it.”

He said that special steps might have to be taken in regard to Cribb later, and ordered that her statement and all details relating to her be placed before the Secretary of Justice. “I’m sorry to note that the Legislature has not yet reduced the period in which persons like you have the right to apply to the Parole Board.” His Honour said that a person serving a six-year sentence could apply to the board after three years and a half and, in his view, those like Cribb should have the right much earlier. With a baby, rehabilitation might be important in the time before Cribb’s release, and counselling might be needed. i Mr Haigh said that Cribb was an inadequate misfit in I society, and unable to cope with her life so far. She had inadequate sight and hearing. a below average intelligence, and insecure upbringing and a congenital deformity of her left hand. “She is a shy, retiring girl for whom violence is entirely out of character, and has committed a horrific act of violence.”

Mr Haigh said that she had been the victim of continued aggression by her de facto husband and they had a tumultuous relationship. Cribb had gone into the shop with the naive notion that Mrs Lett would give her money so that she would go away. She did not intend to be violent.

She panicked, and used, appalling violence. Before she left the shop she wiped blood from Mrs Lett’s face, and repeatedly said that she was sorry. She was several months pregnant at the time of the offence.