STORIES OF ASSAULT

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1929, Page 3

STORIES OF ASSAULT

ANOTHER CASE EXPLODED

SYDNEY, April 25

Dramatic denouement following a sensational report that a young girl had been seriously assaulted at Ryde, near Sydney, last Sunday was the “victim’s” arrest by detectives as an uncontrollable child; and this, coupled with the remarks made recently by a Quarter Sessions judge that “Ninety per cent, of the girls who make these accusations should be charged with perjury,” draws attention to the deplorable moral attitude of many girls of nowadays. Circumstances of the case under review were sensational. The girl, not yet IS, was found lying'unconscious, or apparently so, on the roadway at Ryde, after her screams had brought nearby residents running to investigate. AU. manner of theories were expounded at the time, both by police and Press, it being stated that she had been assaulted and injured by a. gang of moral degenerates, and left on the roadway by them.

The police found that the same girl bad made similar alarming reports of criminal assault on herself on more than one occasion previously, and that in. each instance it had been established on inquiry either that they were without foundation, or that they were grossly exaggerated. They found, further, that she had been in the habit lately of living under an assumed name, and that her method of living and her companions were such as to justify the extreme stop they took actually for her own good. They are satisfied that in the latest instance, as in tho others, she either made certain marks, on her chest herself, and tore her own clothing, or that she was a consenting party to whatever occurred. They have established by medical examination that she was certainly, not criminally assaulted as she claimed.

Unfortunately, her case is not alone in recent months in New South Wales in particular, and Australia in general From several States similar cases have been reported, all extremely sensational when at first reported; .but all exploded on strict police investigation.