SLEEPING IN SHED

Evening Star, Issue 18053, 22 August 1922, Page 7

SLEEPING IN SHED

A CHILD ILL-USED. PITIFUL STOP.Y. James Henry AUckery, porter, and Jessie Agnes Vickery, his wife, appeared 1 at the Williamstowni Cou rt, Aid bourne, on August 1 charged with having caused, a child under the age of fourteen years ’to be neglected, occasioning bodily suffering. On July 4 the home of defendants, Liver street, Newport, was visited by Constables J. H. black and J. Mills at 10 o’clock at night. After they had knocked they saw the female defendant take a child' out of a shed in the yard! and bring it inside. The shed was sft 6in by sft bin, with a hammock in the centre. A fowlhouse was at one end. .The floor was earthen, and the hammock damp. Ileginald Ham, dental mechanic, a neatdoor .neighbor, said the child went about in the cold and wet without trousers,, boots, ,or socks. Sometimes it was dhd in a jumper, and' sometime.? with a sugar bag with holes for the arms.' At night, between 8 o’clock and the child could bo heard crying in the wood shed, and sounds 1 at intervals indicated that it was being beaten. Up till six months ago the islied had no door. Now a .piece of bag served as a door. Florence Ham, wife of the last witness, said the child .was beaten for crying. When asked how often she had seen the child wearing tho sugar! bag, she replied Nearly always. Ellen Burgess, married woman, River street, said that she heard tho child crying so bitterly one night that she tried to attract the attention of the .parents, but without success. It held out its hands piteously to her when ishe went to its assistance. It looked terrified, and was nearly in a fit. She believed there was no one else in the house at the time.

Vickery, tho male defendant, said the female defendant was the child’s stepmother. The child was agedi six rears. He married his wife four years -ago. The child disturbed his wife at night. It was in the habit of giggling and making extraordinary aioises in its sleep. It .bad been mentally weak from its birth, and outdoor sleeping bad improved its nerves. The bag was put : on to prevent the child tearing the buttons off its clothes.

Dr 1\ IT. Dunlop slated that outdoor sleeping might be beneficial, though he would not use a child of his in the way that this child was said to have been used. The female defendant, in answer to Subinspector MT\£iuic, admitted having been fined for her treatment of the child.

The magistrates imposed a fine of £ls, in default three months’ imprisonment, on each of tho defendants, with 10s costs.

The child was committed to the care of the Department for Neglected Children.