ASSAULT ALLEGED

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 42, 13 November 1936, Page 13

ASSAULT ALLEGED

Case Against Carpenter Dismissed ARREST BY BAILIFF Holding that a case had not been established, Mr. Raymond Ferner, S.M., iu the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday, dismissed a charge against Laurence Ernest Francis, carpenter, aged 43, of assaulting .Arthur Kingsley Bell, bailiff at the Magistrate’s Court, during the course of the execution of his duty. In evidence. Bell said he was a duly appointed bailiff attached to the court. He called at accused's home at Miramar at about 7.45 p.m., but accused was out. Witness then went to a given address in Hobart Street, and found accused working in a garage, his small son being with him. Witness told accused that be had come to serve summonses on him, but accused refused to accept service. Witness read the summonses aloud, and then put them on a bench. Accused became abusive and told witness to get out of the garage. Witness alleged that as he turned to leave the garage, accused sprang at him and struck him on the side of the neck, and with a second blow knocked his hat to the ground. Witness warned Francis that he had power to arrest him, and told him to “cool down a bit.” Witness decided to arrest him and left the garage to get his car, and also a constable. When he came back the garage was locked, and upon witness’s knocking, accused called from inside, “If you come iu here I’ll hit you with the hammer.” With the moral aid of the constable, witness got into the garage, accused’s son opening the door. Witness then arrested accused. Cross-examined, witness denied saying to accused when he first entered the garage, “I’ve brought you some love letters from some friends of yours.” . The constable was merely there as a witness and did not make the arrest. In the box, accused said that when Bell entered the garage be said, “I’ve brought you some love letters from friends of yours.” He did not open the papers. They remained folded on the bench. Bell said they were from O. and A. Odlin's, and left. As he went out of the garage he put his hands up over his head as though to protect himself, but accused asserted that he was never within three feet of informant. “I picked up the papers and told him to take them away, but I never touched him,” added accused. “When Bell returned the first time he said he was going to arrest me, but I did not open tho door. He went away and came back with Constable O’Connor, and then arrested me. The constable said lie bad the power.” lan William Francis corroborated his father’s evidence, adding that Bell refused to take back the papers. They were not opened, and did not leave his father’s hand Witness did not see Bell's hat fall to tlie ground. “I am not satisfied that a case has been established in this charge,” said the magistrate, when dismissing the information and discharging accused.