WOMAN ASSAULTED

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 March 1928, Page 2

WOMAN ASSAULTED

- — ACCUSED MEN REFUSED BAIL. SYDNEY, March 8. Charged with having, at Darlinghurst, on March 5, committed a criminal offence on a married woman at Darlinghurst, four men appeared before Mr. Camphin, S.M., at the Central Police Court yesterday. The four accused were: — ’ ' Herbert Wilson, aged 26 years, a labourer. Frederick Gordon Payne, aged 27 years, a salesman. ' Phillip Jeffs, aged 32 years, a Salesman. -1 oo Ernest Frederick Wilson, aged 22 years, a salesman. Mr. Dovey appeared for the accused, and agreed to a remand until March 14. Sensational stories, said Mr. Dovey, had appeared in the Press with reference to the case, and the notorious “Squizzy” Taylor and the Bondi outrage had been mentioned. Much had ' been made out of the gravity of the attempts made on this woman, but his instructions, which would be confirmed by the full facts, were that her story was nothing more than the hysterical outburst of a married woman who had acted unwisely on the night of the alleged offence. In the line-up of 13 men at the Darlinghurst police station, continued Mr. Dovey, the woman had picked out not only, the four accused, but two jurors waiting to take their place at the adjacent court. Sergeant Cummins (police prosecutor) :: That is absolutely incorrect. Mr. Dovey: She identified one man in a case that I have knowledge of. Resuming, Mr. Dovey said the accused were known to the police, having been in trouble before, but not for offences of violence. They were wellknown, and had no chance in the world of getting away from the State. In the circumstances he would ask for bail. With a capital charge hanging over them it was most necessary that they should keep in touch with their legal advisers. At this stage Mr. Camphin asked for the allegations in the case. Sergeant Cummins said that, briefly, they were that at 9.45 p.m. on Monday the woman was on her way home along Bayswater Road when she was accosted by two men and dragged into a flat. There, she alleged, she. was assaulted by the four defendants and others. It was not confined to one criminal offence by each individual. There was more than one charge against the accused, which ‘ would be set out when the case was proceeded with. The woman had picked the four men out from a line-up of 13 men. In answer to Mr. Camphin, Sergeant Cummins said the police were satisfied with the woman’s respectability. Mr. Dovey asserted that the police prosecutor had been misinstructed. He was informed that she had charged her husband with attempting to cut her throat. She was not living with her husband. If there were any relations between her and any one of the accused, he added, it was entirely with her consent. There was no suggestion that her life was endangered. Mr. Camphin said he assumed the charge was not (restricted to the four accused before the Court. It was a capital offence, and far too serious to allow them out on bail. If any developments took place in favour of the accused he hoped they would be brought before him immediately. Bail was refused. A fifth man was arrested in Darlinghurst at about 8 o’clock last night by Detective-sergeant Lynch. He was lined up for identification, and subsequently a serious charge was preferred against him.