SHOCKING SENSATION AT OTAKI.

Manawatu Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7828, 29 September 1903, Page 2

SHOCKING SENSATION AT OTAKI.

A Little Girl Shamefully Outraged.

Serious Consequences.

A Sensational Arrest

(Otaki Mail.)

Otaki was thrown into a state of great excitement oh Saturday afterAoon and evening, when it was noised abroad that a little girl, the daughter of Mr H. Adsett, had been enticed away to a secluded spot, and there shockingly outraged by some incarnate fiend. Enquiry showed that the rumour was only too true. It appears that the little girl was accosted by a young man, who on telling a plausible story induced her to go with him to the Otaki river-bed, where the girl was assaulted and grossly md most cruelly beaten and ill-treated. The littlo girl managed to walk to her home, though extremely weak. Her mother had been informed by the other children of her daughter's absence, and had been fruitlessly searching for her. On her return home, she found the girl there. Tne police were at once communicated with, and Dr Power called in. The girl was found to be in a critical condition, and was obliged to undergo an operation, at which both Drs Power aud Clay assisted. We understand that the child's body was almost caveredwith bruises and cuts, said to have teen inflicted by the brute by means of a stick and his fists.

On being informed of the affair, Constable O'Rourke at once took active steps to arrest the culprit. After heraing several stories from different persons, he went to the Otaki railway station, where, in consequence of information received, a watch was made for a man named James Gylford, who was suspected of being the guilty person. Nothing was seen of the man till just after the '7 o'clock train moved away from the platform, when Mr H. Barnett espied him on the platform of the train. Barnett endeavoured to drag the man from the train but failed, and he then called to the guard of the train, who applied the brakes. Gylford immediately jumped from the train and made away across the line on to the road. The alarm was at once given, and a large number of people set off in pursuit. The night was dark, and it was with difficulty the fugitive was kept iv sight, but Messrs H. Barnett aud S. Hill, who were personally acquainted with Gylford, managed to keep on his track, and he was run to earth and secured by Mr Hill on the Te Manuao flat. Constable. O'Rourke arrested the man and placed him in safe keeping. The accused was taken to Mr Adsett's home on Saturday night, when the little girl identified him from a number of men as the one who assaulted her.

Accused was brought before Mr Byron Brown, J.P., charged with carnally knowing Reine Adsett, aged 8 years. ■On the application of Constable O'Rourke, who called Dr Power to certify that the child was unfit to appear, the case was remanded to Tuesday next, at 10 a.m.

The court was crowded with people anxious to get a glimpse of the accused. The accused, Jamos Qylford, is a young man, of about 24 or 25 years of age. Ho has only been in the'district for about a fortnight, and has beefi working at the Otaki brickworks. He will b,e taken to Wellington to-night, in charge of Detective Broberg. The victim, we are glad to say, is very much better to-day, and is progressing very satisfactorily, though vary weak indeed. Her body, arms, and legs are a mass of bruises and cuts, and she must have suffered terribly. v Tho shocking nature of the affair has naturally caused a great burst of indignation against the perpetrator of so diabolical an act.