ASSAULT CASE SEQUEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17113, 19 March 1919, Page 5

ASSAULT CASE SEQUEL.

» ' (alleged malicious ARREST* ' • CLAIM for £200 damages, THEATRICAL ARTISTS' DISPUTE* A claim for damages for alleged malt* cious prosecution was heard before Mr, Justice Hoskmg at the Supreme Court y sterday. The plaintiff, Mareery Jnar'.ai Olga Richards, a vaudeville perforn eK (Mr. Singer), sued Joseph and Florence) Gardiner, ju-jitsu exponents (Mr. Ostic), for £200 general damages and £7 7s le.-.al expenses incurred. Mr. Singer stated that on June 2, 49 1 3 tho plaintiff was arrested and locked ip at the instance of the femalo defend; it) on a charge of having assaulted defend, it) by pointing a revolver at her. The uia{ a* trate dismissed the charge, and it was n .vv! claimed that the female defendant m.uicioiisly and without reason caused • we* plaintiff to be arrested and locked up. Tho case was heard in the Police Ccrti on June 10 last, when Mrs. Gardiner s.. a that on tho afternoon of June 2 she 1 .i a difference with Mrs. Richards, and «l,m she returned to the latter's house, wh .-a she was lodging, Mrs. Richards told i it to get out. After some argument, i ia said, tho other woman approached )i r with a revolver in her hand and said t'. a was going to shoot her. It wan allepd that in the strur Te the revolver went i f. Evidence was given by the police thai) after the affair they visited the hoube & id saw signs of a struggle, but could find ia trace of a bullet in the room, nor any E' Jcestion of powder-smoko in the uou.-«\, Mrs. Richards' evidence before the mat 8* irate was that Mrs. Gardiner assaulted I a in Qiioeo Street in the afternoon, " kno. It* ing her out." She told Mrs. Card it « that she could not stay in the house, a; J, after some argument, Mrs. oardiner piel »i the revolver out of a box and rushed .it) her. Mrs. Richards denied that a M was fired, and said that, although t',a < revolver was hers, she had not had it :a her possession 6ince the previous Tip.3* day, when she lent it to Mrs. Gardin.r. The magistrate stated that the weirht of. evidence was in favour of the accused and dismissed the information. Evidence similar to that piyen in the lower Court was given by plaintiff. In replv to Mr. Ostler, plaintiff den'oi that she threatened to shoot a profnssio. al sharpshooter named McLeod. also that t ia took part in a fracas in Wellington. HI which it was alleged an attempt was ma da to shoot a man named Healey. Tho female defendant also pavo similar to that given in tho lower Con A denying that she ever had possession of Mrs. Richards' revolver, and sta.timr tl'lti the cartridges found in her room after the! occurrence were not her property. The hearing was adjourned until tenl o'clock this morning