A PATHETIC STORY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 141, 18 June 1927, Page 11

A PATHETIC STORY

MOTHER ABANDONS BABY

' Married to ..save'her honour to a man forty years her senior, a protty nine-I teen-year-old girl told a pathetic story,' in ; the Magistrate's: Court on Wednesday afternoon when,.she.admitted hay.-'; J-tig abandoned hqr- baby at the Homo of, Compassion,.lsland Bay, Into: at night 0n.:1,3th -April.- ;...- .". .. „ A Sister, told how she found the childon the.Verandah at; midnight, wrapped .-tightly, lii a shavfl and an old window curtain. A bundle of clothes lay alongside, but there was. no. clue as to the child's identity.; The baby, which was. about'f<ralp-*bnths old,: was thin, and; looked as if it had-feceu poorly fed. ' The girl's st'ofyy as. contained in a statement read by..Dctectivo N. Baylia,' was that she had never lived with her husband, and he had never contributed .towarWher support. '".'■ She earned her.: own'living, and! was, in. receipt of' £2' 1.1 a; a.weak.- her baby came a; •few;months ago''sHe could not/keep it: with.her/ as ,she*wa's,using her maiden; »ameV,¥o she .got, : a woman at Island ?av to.take''cafeVol it, paying h6r 15s .a week, l^iis arrangement was .satis-' factory;' until/April, when the woman t.ookill,, and. was Unable to , <>are for the child any" longer; find 1 anybody elso who was' prepared to do so.failed, so on the'night of 13th. April, in company with .her .mother,, who was 'a .widow,'with, little., means, she went fo.thd'Home of, Compassion. They hid ,iii thp. trees * .till everj'thiiig seemed: .quiet,.. and then ■ tlio"' girl crept up to' the ve'fandah and placed the child near the front door; where she knew it would be founds "I know I did.wrong; but I was hard up, and'.ilidri't know what to do," added the gjil. HI felt sure the baby would be well cared for at the Homo of Compassion . . .My husband is in Wellington, but I don't know his address, although . I saw hini in town only a few days ago."' '...Mr. _W;;a,>idaell, S.M., said ho did not think that the case was one that should be sent before a jury. He pi'oppgrf'.to deal with'it under the pfpvis-. joins of the Infants Act. "You hayp the right togo before the Supremo. Court it you choose," ho told the/ girl. '.'Yoii may, however, be dealt with in this, Court. "What Aq you wish to do?" '$'4 rathe* be)'dealt with herfc," auBw"ered the accused in a low voice. .

■ The Magistrate postponed- sentence Until this" morning, when ho admitted the accused, td probation for twelve Htf also ordered the suppressi6n of publication of the name.

:.- .The child' is to remain in the Home rif Compassion for the next two- years/ the mother to pay 6s a,week towards its support. Mr, Riddell said- that this amount could be reduced when th& father, who was at present unemployed, was in a position to contribute.