MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 300, 23 November 1912, Page 6

MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

i HASTINGS. i ALLEGED CONCEALMENT OF ' BIRTH. j At the Hastings Magistrate’s Court this morning, before Mr. 8. C E. McCarthy, S.M., Mary Kathleen C Doran was charged with conceal- ’! ing the birth of her illegitimate male child on or about October the 10th, 1912. J Detective Butler prosecuted ano . accused was represented by Mr. B. . :j. Dolan. ; i Zena Inao Flynn, wife of John i Flynn, licensee of the Hastings I Hotel, gave evidence thgt aboa. ; three weeks prior to the 9th ol i October she spoke to Miss Doran ; about her condition, and told he; ! she had heard she was in trouble. : She replied that there was nothing , wrong with her, and that if she v.a: j in the house for 12 months, witness i would see no change in her condi , tion. Where witness found the body, it could not be seen by anybody walking in the room. To see it. one would have to stoop dowr and look under the bed. On the morning of Thursday, October 10th. she went to see the accused in her bedroom between 9 a.m .and 10 a.m. | Miss Doran was in bed, and when I j witness asked her what was the I matter, she said she had influenza.

but would be all right in the morn'ing. _ | Evidence on the same lines a: I transpired at the inquest on the body jof the chihl was given by Dr. Nairn. J Mary Kyle, Annie Doran, Isabella I Doran, and Detective Butler. At the close of the case for the prosecution. Mr. Dolan submitted there was no case to answer. He desired to save the accused the worry and expense which a Supreme Court trial would involve, and also as a secondary matter, the expense to the country, and if there was n<> ease to answer, and the circumstances were not such as those under which a jury would convict, lie was entitled to ask that the charge be dismissed. The information was laid under .Section 194 of the Crimes Act, the provisions cf which made it necessary for the prosecution to prove that there had been a secret disposition and an attempt to conceal. Counsel contended (I) that even if a woman had the dead body of her child in her possession. though about to dispose' cf it, no offtnee was committed under this section ; (2) the fact that she denied the Lit: h would not support a conviction for concealment ; (3) th; oitenee till not consist in concealment f:o,m any particular evidence-, but the concctumer.t must be such as would ke< p the world at large in ignorance cf the birth, lie traversed the e-’ide;;;:-?. and maintained that there was no act of intent. Accused had been sufficiently punished already by v.ecks of mental anguish and physical torture, and he .ask< i His Worship to dismiss the charge if he could possibly do so consistent with his duty. The Magistrate reserved his decision till Wednesday next. Accused was allowed bail, herself in £lOO and|ttwo sureties of £5O each.