Policeman hit by stone

Press, 23 August 1977, Page 4

Policeman hit by stone

While he was being chased by a policeman, John McKinnon Donnelly picked up a stone and threw it, striking the constable on the forehead. This was stated in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday during the taking of depositions against Donnelly, aged 24. He is charged with assaulting a constable to avoid arrest and escape while unlawfully taking a car. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial by Messrs F. A. Gunn and M. G. Smith, Justices of the Peace. Sergeant R. H. Prouting appeared for the prosecution and Mr M. J. Glue, for the defence. A witness, Traffic Officer Stephan Henry McLardy, said that in the early morning of July 1 he was on patrol in Cranford Street when he received a request to assist the police in apprehending a van that was believed to have been stolen.

He travelled to Marine Parade, where he saw the van parked in a side street. When he drove up to the van, he saw two men in it, but when he tried to stop them they drove out on to Marine Parade and into a vacant section, he said. There, they collided with a fence. They got out of the van and climbed over the fence before he could stop them. Traffic Officer McLardy said that he went back to Marine Parade and saw the defendant coming out of a driveway nearby. “He was wielding a lump of wood and used obscene language,” he said. . , The defendant ran back down the driveway, so the witness called the police. The police went down the driveway but could find no sign of the defendant. While they were there, they heard that other police had apprehended the defendant. The witness said he

identified the defendant as the person who had threatened him with the piece of wood.

Constable Richard John Byrne said that he was on patrol with another constable when he had a call to go to Marine Parade. Hs saw the defendant running along the sandhills, so he gave chase. He chased the defendant across Marine Parade, anc when he ordered him to stop, the defendant threw i stone at him, striking him on the forehead, he said. He received a slight cut to his forehead, but it required n< medical attention. He saw the defender bend down to pick up another stone, so he pulled out his baton to hit the defendant on the shoulder, but the defendant moved and il struck him on the head, witness said.

He overpowered the defendant and took him bad to the police vehicle.