PLEA OF GUILTY ENTERED BY YOUTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 October 1947, Page 2

PLEA OF GUILTY ENTERED BY YOUTH

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl aged 15 years 7 months Was admitted by a youth aged 19 years in the Police Court at Greymouth today, and after evidence for the prosecution had been heard he was committed to the next sitting of the Supreme Court at Greymouth for sentence. Bail was allowed in self of £5O and one surety of £5O. An application for suppression of the accused’s name, made by his Counsel, Mr W. D. Taylor, was granted by the presiding justices, Messrs E. O. Henry and G. H. S. Eder. Mr Taylor said th'a't the circumstances of the case were unusual. It was not the ordinary* case of a man taking advantage of a young girl and he proposed to make an application along the same lines to the Judge of the Supreme Court?. Evidence for the police was given by the mother of the girl Concerned in the case, the girl herself and Detective Sergeant N. Thompson. It was stated that the girl Was 16 years of age on February 24 last and on June 25 she gave birth to _ a daughter. She had been friendly with the accused for about two years and had been “keeping company with him, with the approval of his parents and her mother. The accused Was maintaining the child. The detective sergeant produced a statement made by the accused in which he confirmed that he had been friendly with the girl for over tWo years and admitted the charge. ■