OTHELLO OF FIFTEEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14223, 20 November 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

OTHELLO OF FIFTEEN.

FRENCH BOY ; STABS WOMAN BECAUSE SHE WAS GOING TO MARRY. A French boy's murderous temper brought him before the Ninth Correctional Tribunal at Paris. The lad, aged 15, named Lucien Prevet, fell in love with Marie Deschamps, aged 21. - The woman tired of her youthful admirer, and dismissed him, et&ting' that she was going to marry. \ • .

This intimation was resented by Lucien Prevet, who, consumed with Othello-like jealousy, sought out the woman, and stabbed her in the back with a knife. The wound was fatal. The charge against him was that he had caused the death of Marie Deschamps without intending to murder her. The story of the crime was thus given in the evidence at the trial: /

The President: The information gathered concerning you is favourable. Mile. Deschamps resided in the house where you lived with your parents. You mortally stabbed her "in the back. Why? /,' ; \ The Accused: She wished to leave me. The President: At the hospital where she was taken Mile. Deschamps declared that it was not jealousy, but spite, which led you to 'stab her.' She had just announced to you that she was going to marry her lover, who was the father of her child. " The Accused : It was Marie who lured me to; her rooms. I did not want to murder her./ ■'''-..■ ' '.:■'■'■■ : . * . ' ; : -' ''"'.';: During the evidence the boy cried bitterly. His father and mother, who were summoned as being civilly responsible, were also in tears. The boy was acquitted on the ground that he had acted without discernment. He was* however, ordered to be confined to a house of correction until he has reached the age of 18. .-,">•■