A SERIOUS CHARGE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 3 May 1923, Page 5

A SERIOUS CHARGE

— , f . ALLEGED INDECENT ASSAULT. A serious charge was on Tuesday preferred against a youth named; Doug- ] las Collins in the Stratford Court be- ; fore Messrs. C. D. Sole and J. McCluggage, J.P.'s. The charge was that 1 of indecently assaulting a young girl of the age of eight years in the Stratford ' Park on her way home from school. ] The evidence for the prosecution was ' that on Friday last the accused was herding cows on the road, near the ■park, and accosted two little girls on* 1 their way home from school, and induced them to go into the park with - him to see his pony, which he said was grazing there. While in the park the I offence was allegedly committed. •To ! Mr. ODea, who appearedl for the accused, the little girl assaulted admitted , that when brought face to face< with the accused at the police station she had said she had not before seen him. Accused, who reserved his defence, was committed to the next sittings of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth.