GRAVE CHARGES

Evening Star, Issue 22880, 11 February 1938, Page 11

GRAVE CHARGES

HEARING CONTINUED The hearing of charges against Thomas Auchterlanie Kerr arising out of incidents which allegedly occurred at East Taieri on November 9 last was continued in the Supreme Court this morning before His Honour Mr Justice Kennedy. The accused was charged with attempting to commit rape; assault with intent to commit rape; attempting unlawfully to know carnally a female between the ages of 12 and 16; indecent assault on a female under the age of 16; and assault on a female. Mr F. B. Adams (Crown Prosecutor) conducted the case for the prosecution, and Mr C. J. L. White represented the accused, _ Mr White, addressing the jury, said the charges against the accused were of a serious nature. He would point out that two essentials in a case such as was alleged were missing, the first being entire secrecy, and the second isolation. It was usual for such things to take place as far away from help for the girl as possible, but in this case there was a ploughman working outside all the afternoon, and there were other persons near at hand. The girl did not seek help. She was precocious and sophisticated for her age. He would produce witnesses who would prove the accused had a reputable character in the small community from which he came. There was a question of certain photographs. They were nasty, but accused was not charged with having them in his possession, nor with showing them to certain persons, which was not an offence unless it were done in certain circumstances. Evidence as to the accused’s moral character was given by Thomas M'Ginnes, Alexander Morrison Paterson, Henry Arthur Sell, Frank Page, Paul Miller Renton, David Williamson Crouch, Robert Alexander M'Bratney, and George Thomas Falconer. Accused, who gave his age as 40, said he had lived in Owaka for 20 years. He knew the girl and her parents before they moved from Owaka to East Taieri. On November 9 he came up to Mosgiel, and while there decided to go down to East Taieri to see the girl’s father concerning a car he had for sale. He met the girl as she was going to the store. He did not attempt to kiss her then, but admitted making an attempt in the house later on. He placed his arm about the girl’s shoulder. He denied having shown her certain photographs or having made any proposal to her that involved money. To Mr Adams, witness said he had always been on friendly terms with the girl and her father. He could offer no explanation why the charges shoujd have been brought against him. He did not know that the photographs which had been produced in court were in bis coat pocket, where the police said they had been found. They were certainly not in his possession when he was in the house in East Taieri. _ The only photographs witness bad at East Taieri were “ respectable ones of a film star,” and he had shown these to the girl’s father. Ho had not gone into the girl’s bedroom beyond the door, and her father had been in another room then. Evidence was given by lan William Finch, who said he was working in the paddock next to the house in which the girl lived on the day in question. He had seen the girl and the accused, but the girl had not run away from the accused so far as he was aware. Evidence was also given by Arthur Bruce Saunders, William James Russell M'Callum, James Robert Lumsden, Hugh Bennett Calder, Donald Henry Coutts, Robert Cameron, and Edward Kay Ross. This concluded evidence for the defence, and the court adjourned until this afternoon.