LENIENCY EARNED

Evening Star, Issue 23136, 9 December 1938, Page 8

LENIENCY EARNED

PROBATION FOR HOUSEBREAKING MAH WHO SAVED BABY FROM DOG [Per United Press Association.! CHRISTCHURCH, December 9. The hero of a sensational incident recently, in which he intervened to stop an Alsatian dog from attacking a baby, George Thomas Watts appeared in the Supreme Court before Mr Justice Northcroft to-day, and was sentenced on a charge of housebreaking. He was admitted to probation for two years. Mr P. H. T. Alpers, for Watts, said that be had had a hard upbringing. He was sent to a truant school when very young, and then sent to farms in Taranaki, where he was outfitted with clothes and allowed 2s 6d a week above his keep. The incident with the Alsatian dog took place in June last, and as a result of it Watts received a fractured wrist, and had to give up his employment. He was placed on sustenance, and he and his wife and child had to live on 39s a week. Later he entered the employment of the Brighton Borough Council. The offence occurred when Watts was pressed for payment on his furniture. He had kept up these payments until he was injured, and when he got the position with the Brighton Borough Council the furniture company demanded £1 a week. • A judgment summons was issued; Watts saw his homo being wrecked, and became flurried, committing the offence. “ I am going to give you the credit you deserve for trying to go straight,” said the Judge, “ and I shall treat this as an isolated offence and admit you to probation. This is an unusual course, but you have earned it by your conduct over the last few years.”