ASSAULT CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 298, 13 September 1937, Page 2

ASSAULT CHARGES

House-Door Disturbance

FIVE MEN IN COURT As a sequel to a disturbance at the door of a Stepney Place house where a party was being held, five young men were charged jointly in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Saturday with assaulting two brothers. They were remanded until Wednesday, the police explaining that inquiries were not complete and one of the victims of the alleged assault was still in hospital. The men charged were Samuel John Barrett, motor mechanic, aged 22; Allan George Eagle, timber worker, aged 22’; John Ralph Cairncross, glass beveller, aged 21; Edward Ernest Aitken, timber worker, aged 20; and Neville Edward Gandy, labourer, aged 22. They were charged with assaulting Noel Percival Richards and George Richards on September 5 so as to cause actual bodily harm. Mr. T. P. McCarthy asked for bail, jiointing out that only two of the men In the box had been before; the court before. Detective-Sergeant AV. Kane opposed the application, saying that they had banded themselves Into a gang and struck people on the head. Answering' a question by Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., as to the nature of the alleged assault, Mr. Kane said the five presented themselves at the door of a house where a birthday party was being held, but were refused admisison. Apparently (hey had had drink. One of the victims was knocked out with a beer bottle and had to have five stitches in his head and the other was still in hospital. The assault happened at 1 a.m., though they knew’ early in the night that they were not to go to the party. Mr. McCarthy remarked that Mr. Kane was assuming guilt. Bail was fixed at £lOO, with one surety of £lOO, in each case, the defendants to report daily io the iwUce.