ATTACK ON GIRL

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 March 1930, Page 10

ATTACK ON GIRL

AUCKLAND SENSATION.

[special to “star.”] AUCKLAND, March 29. Struggling desperately with a man who threw a cloth soaked with ammonia over her head, a girl screamed for help in a right-of-way near Albert Park last night, and was in a state of collapse when help came and her assailant made off. The victim of the outrage was Miss Leah Baker, aged about 18 years, a domestic employed by Mr W. J. Ralpa iii Princes Street. She had been in the city, and about 10.30 p.m. walked up Bowen Avenue. Instead of going round to the front entrance she decided to go along the right-of-way a the back of the Synagogue and a number of private residences in that pait of Princes Street. It was dark in the right-of-way, and when about half-way up Miss Baker saw a man bending down as if he were tying up his bootlaces. She took no notice of him and continued on. Just as she drew leve the man sprang at her and threw a cloth over her head. She at once struggled and screamed loudly. The man held the cloth to her face, and for a few minutes Miss Baker was almost choked as the result of the fumes fi om the ammonia which made her gasp for breath. She managed to free herself from the man, but he again caught hold of her. . Her piercing screams for help were heard all round the immediate neighbourhood, and the first to respond was a young woman who at the moment was leaving the servants’ quarters at Mr Ralph’s house. She rushed into the lane and saw the struggling pair. The man then dashed away and, climbing over a motor garage at the reax* of the adjoining premises ™ aae his escape into Albert Park. Miss Baker was found with her clothes toi n, moaning and crying bitterly. A message was sent to the Auckland police headquarters, which are not more than 150 yards away, and a number of detectives were soon on the spot. They could find no race the man responsible for the assault, but near , the place where the struggle had occurred detectives found a half-pint bottle containing a small quantity of ammonia. Miss Baker was put to tied, and this morning when seen by a “Star re-, presentative her lips and cheeks were painfully burned and swollen. She was in a highly’nervous state as the result of her terrifying experience last night. She could not throw any further light on the attack, but said it was so swift as to take her completely by surprise. Ammonia has a characteristic pungent odour, a powerful caustic taste, and a stinging alkaline reaction. “A person can easily be suffiocated by the application of too much of the fluid pressed over the nostrils on a cloth,” said a doctor this morning. “It also has a blinding effect on the eyes.”