“SPIRIT OF CHIVALRY”

Evening Star, Issue 23350, 21 August 1939, Page 8

“SPIRIT OF CHIVALRY”

ALLEGED CAUSE DF ASSAULT BUT IT EVAPORATED SUDDENLY TERM OF PRISON FOR MINER That the spirit of chivalry still exists, even in these materialistic times, was put forward by Mr C. J. L. White in the Police Court this morning as one explanation of an assault committed by his client upon a taxi driver on August 12. Counsel admitted, however, that this spirit of chivalry had apparently evaporated rapidly, for his client had jumped clear when the vehicle was describing a lone _ course dow'n a steep street, abandoning his lady friend to take the consequences of a crash over a cliff. The client referred to was Patrick Rogers, who faced a charge of assaulting Neville Arthur Joseph Faircloth. Mr W. M'Elrea appeared to watch the proceedings on behalf of the latter. Senior-sergeant Claasen said that the assault was an aggravated one carried out in most disgraceful circumstances. The accused and a woman friend had been drinking in an hotel, and about 4 o’clock in the afternoon the wife of the licensee, owing to the boisterous conduct of the pair, requested them to leave. In response to a call for a taxi Faircloth arrived, and Rogers and the woman, together with a suit ease _ containing liquor, as well as a demijohn of beer and other liquid refreshment, were taken on board. _ The original idea of the pair was to drive to the railway station, from whence accused was to take train back to Kaitangata. hut accused subsequently directed the driver to proceed to Caversham. An argument arose between the two passengers concerning accused’s fitness to visit his brother, and it was finally decided not to do so, but to return and go to the station. In Nottingham Crescent further argument arose, this time over the fare, which, however, the woman paid. Accused evidently objected to the settlement, and struck the driver, forcing him with blows out of the side door, where he fell to the roadway. The car had by this time reached (Ryehill street, arid when the driver was knocked from his seat the vehicle careered down the street towards a steep bank. The accused, seeing the danger, jumped out, but the woman went over the bank with the car, Sustaining a fractured skull. Even after the car had dashed over the bank, said the senior sergant, accused persisted in his attack upon the driver on the roadway. Accused, who was a miner, aged 30, had £6 16s 7Jd in his possession when arrested, so that a shortage of cash could not have been the cause of the dispute. Mr White described the episode as regrettable, for the accused, no said, had a record entirely free from crime. He had been boarding with the lady concerned and her husband, whose name was also Rogers, though there was no relationship with the accused. On the Saturday m question accused and the lady drove to town to do some shopping, it being intended that the former should return to Kaitangata that night while the lady stayed on till Monday. The shopping finished, time hung heavily on their hands, said counsel, and they visited) an hotel and began drinking rather heavily. When the taxi arrived the driver must have known the condition of the two passengers, yet he took them, - together with a quantity of liquor, on. to his car. They left with the intention of conveying the lady to the house where she was to stay, but there was a diversion, the cause of which accused evidently could not remember.

So far as the assault was concerned, said Mr White, it wag suggested that this was the outcome of an insult offered the lady by the driver. A dispute had arisen over the demand of 10s as fare, a sum which the lady protested was exorbitant, whereupon the driver, accused declared, had called her a drunken driver had used insulting language to her, though she was unable to remember exactly what it was. Accused, said counsed, denied jumping over the seat. He had. however,' struck the driver, who, “ failing to observe the traditions so dear to the heart of sea captains, had deserted the ship when a wreck was imminent.” The vehicle had gone on and over the bank, taking with it a valuable cargo of beer, remarked Mr White. Counsel strongly contended that some such circumstances as those related hy the accused must-have (preceded the assault. which otherwise was just an act of madness. A spirit of chivalry, inflamed bv indulgence in another kind of spirit, added Mr White, had, it would appear, moved the accused to action, though it was true the chivalrous feeling had! dwindled rather rapidly. Counsel suggested that it must have been at least a case of tactless handling of people suffering from alcoholism. Accused had suffered more serious physical injuries than had the driver. He had also spent two days in gaol as one result of the escapade, and in view of accused’s previous record, counsel asked for leniency. „ „ T _ „ The magistrate (Mr H. W. Bundle), in passing a sentence of three weeks’ imprisonment, said that taxi drivers were at the call of al) classes of people at all times. It was true that Faircloth would know the condition of the accused and the female with him at the time, hut that was no reason why he should have anticipated any trouble. Whether the statement concerning the reflection cast upon the female passenger by the driver was true or not, it did not justify an assault upon a person in charge of a dangerous vehicle. His Worship added that ne would take into consideration the past good conduct of accused, but it was not a case m which ho could impose a monetary penalty.