SHEATH KNIVES USED

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 123, 19 February 1944, Page 8

SHEATH KNIVES USED

IN ASSAULT Judge Suggests Restriction SEAMAN WHO STABBED WIFE (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, February 18. Remarking that kuives had been used in some recent cases of assault in the Dominion, Mr. Justice Fair today suggested that the authorities should consider the consequences of allowing sheath knives to be carried if not required for use in immediate work. His honour was sentencing Charles Henry Merrick, seaman, aged 29, who had been found guilty of assaulting his wife so as to cause actual bodily harm. Mr. Aekins, counsel for the defence, said so far as the "woman was concerned she had made a doormat of Merrick. Counsel referred to Ihe wife’s mode of living and said Merrick had had a miserable married life. His Honour said the jury had acquittfd prisoner of the gravest of the charges, but the circumstances of the assault made it a very grave offence. His wife’s life had been endangered and was only saved by skilful surgery. The jury bad recommended mercy on account of Merrick’s mental strain, but substantial punishment must be imposed. The fact that accused had seuyed in the merchant service and bis record of good conduct were taken into consideration in sentencing him to two years’ reformative detention.