ATTACK ON GIRL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20490, 26 February 1941, Page 11

ATTACK ON GIRL

YOUNG MAORI CHARGED TWO OFFENCES ALLEGED Allegations of attempted carnal knowledge and indecent assault were made against a young Maori, Charles Pickering, in the Supreme Court today before Mr. Justice Johnston. The offences were alleged to have occurred at Tuparoa on January G. Mr. A. A. Whitehead appeared for the accused, and pleaded not guilty. The jury enpanelled comprised F. H. G. Galvin, foreman, J. Proudfoot, A. McLeod, J. A. Morrison, J. Harrison, R. J. Morrison, P. T. Sweeney, J. Hitchcock, D. Johnston, H. Hamilton, J. Wright and V. Lowe. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. F. W. Nolan, stated that on the day of the alleged offence the girl, who was 12 years old, had visited Pickering’s house on her way back from a message. The alleged offences were committed by the accused there, and medical evidence would show that the girl subsequently showed unmistakeable signs of an assault. The girl had complained to her older sister and her mother within a few minutes of the alleged assault, and a report was made to the police immediately by the mother of the child. The accused, said Mr. Nolan, told a story to the police that the girl was not in his house that day. His sister was with him in the house, he alleged, and the only words he exchanged with the complainant was when he told her not to cross his property. Evidence was given by Dr. E. C. Grant, Te Puia, who stated that he examined the girl and found evidence of an assault, the girl, who described her encounter with Pickering at his house, the elder sister of the girl, who described the latter’s return home in a distressed condition, and the mother of the complainant, who related what had happened on the return of the girl after the alleged incident in Pickering’s house, and gave the girl’s account of what had happened. Cross-examined by Mi 1 . Whitehead, the mother of the complainant said that she had never been told to keep her children away from Pickering's and denied that there was continual bickering between the families.