Man convicted of assault

Press, 22 November 1980, Page 5

Man convicted of assault

A charge against Richardj Wiki, aged 20, unemployed,; of assault with intent to in-; jure a 16-year-old in-i tellectually ’ handicapped' youth in Press Lane at 8.15 p.in. on October 1 was reduced in the District Court yesterday to one of common , assault under provisions of, the Crimes Act. i The defendant, who had denied the original charge, also maintained his plea of not guilty to the reduced' charge. However, he was con-' victed of the offence by Judge Palmer, and was also convicted of an associated' offence of possessing an of-i tensive weapon, a large, pocket knife, in a public! place. He was remanded in cus-i tody on both charges to November 28 for sentence. 1

I Sergeant M. J. South pros-i Jecuted and Mr G. H. Nation! appeared for the defendant. I '! The hearing began on] ! Thursday and was adjourned, ' to yesterday after three of; ■ the five prosecution wit-; L messes had given evidence, j !' The prosecution's easel ■was that two young men.j /both intellectually handi-i ■capped, were in Press Lane : when the defendant’s com-; . panion, Richard Edward Saviage, asked one of the men, '.for money. When the man' ! said he had none. Savage ! struck'and kicked him. J The defendant then at-; /tacked the other, younger! handicapped man. ■ ■ A member of the public! Iran to the scene to assist] I the two complainants and asj ■ he approached, the defendant] ! drew out a pocket knife,I

which had a blade of about’ 13cm, but then ran off. He was found nearby by the police shortly after, and) handed over the knife when: asked. The defendant’s compan-| ion, Mr Savage, was thei onlv witness called for thei defence. He said he was ini prison awaiting sentence’ after having pleaded guilty! to a charge of assault with! intent to cause injury, in re-| lation to the same incident, i Mr Savage said one of the! complainants asked for a cigarette and he then asked him if he had any money.) He then punched and kicked' the older complainant, and! then also similarly assaulted! the vounger man. He said that at this stage) the defendant was 15 to 20. metres away and had taken! no part in the attack, and had:

•told Savage to stop attack-) iing them. They both then; 'left the scene. !| He did not see the defend'iant with a knife. I The Judge, giving his deciJsion, said Mr Savage im-| ! pressed him as being a liar,’ ihaving regard to the other: )levidence in the case. He was, (’satisfied the defendant was) inot an innocent bystander, j I He said he would reduce ithe assault charge to one of; ■ common assault as- there had been no evidence of the nre-) cise manner of the defend-! ant’s assault on the younger) (complainant. l| The Judge said the knifeJ the defendant had “speaks; I for itself” as being an offen-i ■isive weapon, and he was) i satisfied the defendant, ■carried it as an offensive; ’weapon.