RAZOR BRANDISHED IN STREET

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 7

RAZOR BRANDISHED IN STREET

Mechanic’s Offence CABARET DOOR-KEEPER ASSAULTED Xs a result of having refused a man admittance to a Wellington cabaret, the doorman, a youth of 18, was waylaid in the street in the early hours of Thursday morning h.v an assailant brandishing a razor and threatening to cut him to pieces. Next day the man again tried to gain admission to the cabaret, and when refused, pushed inside. The police were summoned, and the man arrested. As a sequel, Patrick William Sheehy, mechanic, aged 22, appeared before Mr W. I’’. Stilwell, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was charged with assauling Janies Haivey McPhail on May 14. Sheehy, who was represented by Mr. 11. Hardie Bovs, pleaded not guilty. SeniorSergeant J. Dempsey prosecuted for the police. Called in evidence..McPhail said he was employed as doorman at the Majestic Cabaret. When he was on duty on Wednesday night two men came to be admitted. One of them was accused, whom witness told he was debarred by the management from admission. As the man refused to get out, he told him he would have to call the police. The man turned on him and called him a rat. He then started to push inside, but two men dragged him away. “He threatened to come back and ‘get’ me,’’ said McPhail. Four Men at Corner. Witness left the Majestic at 15 minutes after midnight, in company with three waiters. They saw four men waiting at the corner of Boulcott Street and Willis Street. Accused, who was one of the men, stopped McPhail. ami asked him to come round the corner. McPhail refused. Sheehy then drew a blade razor from his inside eoat pocket, and opened it outward. with the handle in the palm of his hand, and the blade double out over his knuckles. “He threatened to cut me to pieces,” said McPhail. “He told me he was coming back to the Majestic on Saturday night, and if I attempted to stop him, it’d be just too bad.” Witness said that accused had seized him Uy the shoulder and tried to drag him round the corner. When one of tin- others intervened, accused threatened him also. On Thursday night, continued McPhail, Sheehy again came to the Majestic with another man. When told he could not enter, he said “Who’s going to stop me? Forget you've seen me,” and pushed past into the lounge. Neville Gordon Forbes, a waiter, said he had been with McPhail when recused accosted him in the early hours of the morning. He substantiated McPhail’s story of the incident, adding that Sheehy had told the three waiters that if they intervened he would “rip their guts out.” James Ernest Marshall and Albert Griffin gave corroboratory evidence. Police Evidence. Constable Steffenson said he had approached accused in the Majestic L'-unge, and asked him to come outside and speak to him. Accused replied: “If you want me to come, arrest me.” Sergeant 14. W. Black said that when interviewed accused refused to give his name or submit to a search. He refused to go to the station unless arrested. Counsel for the defence submitted that if the affair were as serious as alleged, it was extraordinary that no outcry had been made at the time, or no alarm given. His client would say that he had not been near the Majestic Lounge that night, ami had no knowledge of the incident. Sheehy, in the witness-box, said he first learned of the alleged assault when tlie constable approached him. He had gone to the Majestic, and McPhail had told him he was debarred. He asked why, and being given no explanation said it was a public restaurant,' and he had every right to be there. He went inside. Cross-examined, .Sheehy said he shaved with a safety razor. He denied passing anything over to the man with him when accosted by the police. He had never before been refused admission to the Majestic. ’■The prosecution have established their case,” said the magistrate. "I am satisfied that this man was at the piace at the time alleged, and did assault McPhail, and made use of threatening language. “it is tut unpleasant thing to hear of a razor being brandished in this fashion. While I do not think the matter was as serious as it at first appeared, it is not a minor matter. I do not want to see razor-work starting in this city.” Sheehy, stated to have served three 5 ears’ reformative detention for theft and breaking and entering, was fined £2/10/- and costs, in default seven days’ jail.