AN INDECENT DOCUMENT

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 50, 27 February 1918, Page 7

AN INDECENT DOCUMENT

A STIFF PENALTY IMPOSED. A young married man named William Samuel Beehre, for whom Mr. A J. Luke appeared, pleaded guilty to a charge of knowingly delivering an indecent document. Inspector Mareack, in outlining the facts of the case, said that BeeKre and his wife and child had rented ,a room in Jeesie-street, but on the date on which the offence took place Mrs. Beehre and the child were in Wanganui and Beehre was alone in the house with the fourteen-year-old daughter of his landlady. Accused went into the kitchen and handed the girl a note (produced)' which he told her to read, but to show to no one else. 1 Mr. Luke said that it wa.s a difficult matter for a solicitor to speak for the defence in such .a case as that under re: view, but he asked that a penalty should be imposed such as would not prevent Beehre from following his ordinary work, otherwise the penalty would fall most heavily on the wife and child. Mr. M'Cn,rthy said that such a deliberate attempt to corrupt a young girl should only be met by a term of imprisonment, and .sentenced accused to three months' imprisonment, the maximum penalty. No doubt the proper authorities would make provision for accused's family .