FIGHT FOLLOWS HOME BREW

Northern Advocate, 19 August 1936, Page 8

FIGHT FOLLOWS HOME BREW

SEQUEL IN SUPREME COURT

[Special to “Norther a Advocate/’I HAMILTON, This Day.

How two young men arranged to have a fight, in which one was allegedly knifed and the other suffered critical head injuries, was told in the Supreme Court yesterday when Alva Vernon McMinn and Cyril Dudding Henderson were charged with assaulting each other and causing bodily harm. There were alternative counts of common assault. The evidence showed that at Taumarunui on April 29 the pair consumed home brew. Disputes arose and they started to fight. In the struggle, McMinn believed he had been struck in the back with a penknife, and, accordingly, retaliated by hitting Henderson on the head with an electric torch.

Henderson escaped and collapsed in a serious condition on the verandah of a doctor’s residence. McMinn’s version was that he had been led to a paddock, where it appeared Henderson tried to throw him. They clinched, and McMinn said he felt knife stabs in the back. He was forced to use his torch in selfdefence.

Henderson alleged that the other was the aggressor, and denied knowledge of a knife. McMinn was found not guilty on the major count, but guilty on the common assault charge under strong provocation. the jury making a strong recommendation to mercy. He was admitted to probation for one year. Henderson was acquitted on both counts.