BLIND BOY’S FEAR

Hokitika Guardian, 9 November 1936, Page 7

BLIND BOY’S FEAR

STRANGE BIRMINGHAM CASE.

LONDON, November 4

Admitting he was responsible for a fire at a factory at Smethwick, near

Birmingham, a 16-year-old boy who has been blind since birth, told the chairman of the juvenile court at Smethwick that he" fired the place because he was always being told h| would be “put away.” This preyed on his mind so much that he decided to do something to warrant his being sent away, and then gave himself up. The lad was charged with arson, and it was stated that £2OOO worth of damage was done. He was committed

to the care of the local authorities, who were said to have arranged for him to go to a special school for the blind.

A representative of a loci act’ orifcy declared nothing had been said by the education committee about sending him away, and the committee had spent £750 on his education and maintenance at a blind institution. A constable told how the boy went to his house a fortnight after the fire and said he wished to give himself up for ars n.

In a statement he described how ho entered the factory and lit the fire. Ho tried to put it out with water, but when he could not he made off. The boy stated he did not give himself up immediately because for some days he, was living in peace. Further trouble occurred at home, and he then went to the police.