DOMINICA MOISER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 898, 18 August 1910, Page 3

DOMINICA MOISER.

■ I CHILD SNATCHED FROM FLAMES. MOTHER SENTENCED. v At the Supreme Court yesterday, before' his Honour, Mr. Justice Chapman, Valentino Moiser was charged .with ■ the willul ill-treatment and neglect of »a. child named Dominica Moiser, aged four years and ten months, of which she was the lawful custodian. ' Mr. H. H. Ostler prosecuted for the Crown and Mr." H. Kirkcaldic appeared for the accused.

Valentine Moiser is a Frenchwoman, middle-aged, with a,, sallow complexiou and dart hair. When she appeared in Court her. movements were feeble and she was permitted, on the application of her lawyer, to • sit down in the dock. In the witness-box, <her demeanour was at limes vivacious, almost sprightly.

• A Timely Rescue. ■ The first witness for. the prosecution was Henry Joseph Carroll, labourer, who stated that on July 18 he was attracted S' • a fire in a house in Charlton Avenue. e broke open the door with an axe and found the interior full of smoke. , In the second room he entered he found a bed on lire. A child was lying on the bed surrounded by'flames. He caught it up' and taking it outside, handed it over to a Miss Cook. Charles Dormari, a labourer, residing next door to the accused, had heard sounds suggestive of a child being beaten, and once heard it crying for bread. ■ "Medicine. 1 " Mary. Cook, who resides next door to v tho accused, deposed that during the nine weeks, preceding the fire she had several times heard the child screaming. At first she did not take much.notice, but ultimately .went and knocked at Mrs. Moiser's door to ask what she was doing to the child. Accused replied that she was giving it medicine. On. the Friday evening, before the 'fire, witness heard the child screaming aud heard accused tell it if it was not quiet she would kick it inside out. Witness knocked on the wall and ; accused, coming out, repented her.-former statement that, she was giving the child medicinn.' Further evidence.' for tho prosecution was given by Walterj Cook and Percival James Stokes.-.

'Constable Doyle gave, evidence as to the!condition of the child when rescued. He . obtained from accused a statement setting.forth that sho was a married woman living apart from her husband. A wharf-labourer named Jack Farley,, with whom she 1 lived, allowed her. about .£3 a week. On the day .of the fire she went out at: about two o'clock, leaving ■ her child Dominica tied with a piece of 'string'attacked'to her dress and .to the bed. There was ..a box of matches on a table in the room when she we'nt'ont. ' .. Sergeant Rutledee, in the couVs'e of. his evidence, stated that his experience of accused was thatjshe was'a"wontain.. addicted to drink. .

. Nurse Jones described-the slate of the child when it. arrived at'the hospital on July 18.;. It. was in a filthy condition, had a wound over the nose, and another on the-right temple. There, were also other sores, which .witness described. Ths child was also emaciated.. , Dr. Woodhouse, house-surgeoiv at the hospital, gave.similar, evidence as to the lioilily condition und iiijunes of tho child. Its weight on Jnly 25 was 31Hb. The normal, weinht for a child of that age .was 381b.' The difference amounted to a considerable deficiency.- On, August U, three weeks after the wrevlp'us wvigliing, the child .weighed. Sfllb., so that in the intervening period it had gained 711b. In witness's opihWh. the numeious sears on the child's ..body had.been .caused by a hard ; instrument. of some sort. The sores were dne to neglect. •■ ••■. ■/:■'•.■!..'• ■ '

, The Defence: "A Home of Poverty." Jlr. Kirkcaldie, npenijig tho ease for th« defence, first emphasised : tho fact that :a"cclisq'd was a woman, living separated ■from her husband. As to her statement 1 that she.-.was in recpipt of' nu income of ■£3 per- week,, the.jury ;w,ould know, whe■tlier any wharf labourer 1 was likely to be in a position, to make such an allowance. No doubt. accused' had csasfferated matters to, the -constable in : order; .to .maku her position appear a's decent as she possibly could. But her home was not that of u well-conditioned person of moderate means..'lt was a slum home, a homo of poverty. The child had been neglected not .on. account, 0f,,, any wilful fault of the mother, , but. '; on. account Vof these circumstances. 'Last, Christmas while this woman .was living at Petone both her ' children . contracted whooping cough, and later Dominica 'Moiser suffered-from mumps. The'mother; had .to ■ attend vto both children herself, and about nine .weeks before the" fir« sh ( e became so enfeebled that she' -was actually physically unable to look after them. A week before tho fire, a doctor advised her to go to "the hospital. On tho day. of" the fire she waited on Br, .Ilogg, and when it occurred she wasin his. surjery.-..She left the'child as sho thought in the safest way possible—tiwl' to the bed. .< . • .

. . Alexander 'Wilson Hogg, medical practitioner; said the accused. consulted hiin on Julylß. - He : told her-she- was seriously ill, and that he would call upon hi-r on the following Friday. To Mr. Ostler: He certainly thought .the woman was well enough to look after her children.

Hamilton SI. Gilmour, surgeon at tlio Wellington Gaol, deposed that he had treated. the". accused for a swelling in her leg. ; ,

.To Mr. .Ostler: Witness considered accused-able to look after ! two children. A Series of Denials, The evidence of the accused, Valentino Moiser, delivered vapidly in broken English, was somewhat difficult. to follow. She stated that on the occasions when the neighbours had supposed that slid was thrashing the child, she was in fact rubbing its neck with camphorated oil. She denied having said to the child, "I'll kick you insido out." Usually she spoke to the child in her/own language, French. One of the child's wounds was the result of..a'foil, the others were ,duo to some form of eruption. Tho injuries to its wrists wero caused by a string tied round' them by her brother at play. The tape around the child's neck had remained there from the previous night when she was playing with her brother. When witness went out on the day of the fire the child was tied to the bed by a string attached toits dress. It must have untied itself and got out the matches, thus causing the fire.

. The 'little' girl Dominica was then brought into Court, and subsequently; at the suggestion .of his Honour, the indictment was amended and the accused was charged 1 on two counts, first with causing injury to the child's health, and second with causing it unnecessary bodily suffering;. ; ' The Sentence. The jury retired at 2.55 p.m.,'and returned in three-quarters of an hour with a verdict of guilty on the • second count of the indictment. His Honour imposed sentence of six months' imprisonment. No order was made as to the custody of the child. ; A SERIOUS CHARGE. CHINAMAN IN THE DOCK. Dong Hon, an elderly Chinaman, was charged with criminal assault, committed at 'Wellington on June 3. Evidence having been heard, the case was adjourned until 10.30 a.m. to-dav.

. CIVIL SITTING.

FOXTON PROPERTY DISPUTE. NONSUIT ASKED FOR, Mr. Justice Cooper was occupied for 6ome hours yesterday in the further hearing of the dispute about the ownership of a small piece of land near Whyte's Hotel, Foxton. The plaintiffs, Frederick Spencer Enston, of- Foxton, farmer, and Barbara Ellen Austin, executrix of the will of the late Herbert Austin, of Foxton, flaxiniller, claim that nn allotment measuring 1 acre t rood U perches was accidentally omitted from the documents concerning the sale of Whyto's Hotel and premises to F, Easton and • the late H,

Austin by the defendant. They therefore ask to have the agreement .-amended,, and the land transferred to them. In the event of tho defendant beiug unable to do,this, thov ask for JCSIU damages, and thov also ask for .E2OO general damages. ' The defendant denies having sold the land in dispute to the plaiutifts. During yesterday's proceedings, Mr. A. A. S. Menteath, for the -defendant, asked a nonsuit on the ground that certain' evideuce was inadmissible owing to lapse of time. i His Honour adjourned the hearing to consider the point. He did not expect, to be able to decide it before the end of the week. . ' The plaintiffs were represented by Air. C. H. Treadwell.