UNUSUAL COURT CASE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20677, 30 January 1942, Page 2

UNUSUAL COURT CASE

CHARGE AGAINST MAORI THROWN OUT BY S.M. (Herald Correspondent.) Discharging a Maori accused. Hnni Ihaakn Ranapia, in an unusual case in the Walron Police Court yesterday, the magistrate, Mr. J. Miller, S.M., said that there was often more thnii apathy, indeed, in some cases, wilful neglect, and there was great difficulty in inducing natives to call in a doctor in cases of illness. “This one, however,” ho added, “does not fall into that category.” The charge against Ranapia was: On October 11. 1941, being the head of a family, at To Reinga pa, and under a legal duty to provide the necessaries for his son, Peter Ranapia, a child under IC, he did fail without lawful excuse to provide such necessaries while he remained a member of the household and thereby did endanger the life of the child. Sergeant L. T. Moore prosecuted, and Mr. F. H. Jones appeared for Ranapia. Ellen Ranapia, the mother of the child, said she had had seven children, four of whom had died. On August 7, 1941, the son. Peter, was bom, and was a normal child. In October the baby became ill with a boil on the side of the head, and cried a good deal. She bathed the place and rubbed it with oil. The district nurse visited the child and said she would take it to Wairoa to see a doctor. Witness replied that the baby did not have any dry clothes and that she would bring it in the next day. She did not do so. The distance from Te Reinga to Wairoa was 20 miles. Natives at Te Reinga had ears, but no benzine. Eventually, continued Mrs. Ranapia. the boil burst and Mrs. Niania brought the baby in to see the doctor. At the time her husband was away shearing and working on the road. There was always plenty of food ; nnd * clothing in the house. To Mr. Jones:, She , had never had any training in looking after children. . She left school at Standard 4. Up to the time the baby got the boil it was quite all right. She and her husband lived in a one-roomed house. 9ft by 18ft., at Te Reinga pa and their cooking was done over an open lire. The whole family of five lived in the room and at present there were two other persons staying there. They all slept cooked: and ate in the one room. Her husband had never had a steady job, but went out scrubcutting in the winter and shearing in the summer. He was at home when the baby first took ilk There was no money in the house and her clothes were not ready to wear. The reason why she did not go into Wairoa by. bus Was that she did not have the 8s bus fare. The baby was better after the boil burst. Before her husband went shearing he told her that he would have to earn some money so that she could take the child to a doctor. He got some money from his brother-in-law and sent it to her two days after the baby died. ’ Cause of Death

Dr. E. B. Jardine, Wairoa. said that on the night of October 22, he was called out from a military medical board to see a baby which was in a car outside and said to be seriously ill. When he arrived at the car, the baby was dead. He notified the coroner and next day an inquest was held. An examination of the body disclosed an abscess over the right side of the face, involving the ear and it was much swollen. A boil or abscess on the side of the face in a baby of only two' months if unrelieved would be sufficient to cause death. The parents would not .realise that had treatment been given at once the child's life might have been saved. To Mr. Jones: There was no evidence of neglect of the child other than that It must have suffered considerable pain. Izona Harden, district nurse, of Frasertown, said that she made fortnightly visits to Te Reinga. She called to see Peter Ranapia on October 16. The father stopped her on the Toad and told her the child was ill. When she called, -the baby was in a feverish condition and she told the parents to take him to a doctor, as there was not much she or the parents could do. She offered to take the child to Wairoa, but the parents made excuses and did not appear to want to go in to Wairoa. They said they had no money to pay the doctor, hut she told them that that did not matter, as the child was in urgent need of attention. The father promised to take the child in next day by private car or service car. To Mr. Jones: The parents said that they had no relatives in Wairoa and had she taken them in to town she Would have taken them home again.

To the Magistrate: She impressed on the parents the necessity of getting the child attended to. ' .*

To Mr. Jones: She told the parents that if anything happened she would not be responsible. Pare Niania, the child's aunt, said that she told the mother to take him to a doctor. Witness brought the baby to Wairoa, but when they reached the doctor the child was dead. . Mr. Jones submitted that a pnma facie case had not been established. There was no evidence of criminal neglect. The whole circumstances —the poverty of the parents and lo\y standard of education, plus the lack of realisation of the seriousness of the matter —contributed to tHe trouble. Giving his decision, the magistrate said that the case was not one in which a jury would convict. The police were quite right to bring the case as there had been so many instances of failing to provide medical aid, but it -wa3 not a matter of wilful neglect. The accused would be discharged.