MAN UNDER THE BED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19149, 15 October 1925, Page 12

MAN UNDER THE BED.

A WOMAN'S DISCOVERY,, FRUITLESS PROSECUTION. AN ANOMALY IN THE LAW[By TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHEISTCHURCH. Wednesday. 14 ny man who lies under a bed in someone else's house for an hour after sunset can do so with impunity. There is no law under which he can be prosecuted. This amazing anomaly was disclosed in the hearing of a remarkable case in the Magistrate's Court to-day, before Mr. Wyvera Wilson, S.M. Douglas Alexander Davison, aged 25 years, was charged with attempted theft from tho dwelling of Evangeline Litchfield on September 21. Davison had been found in the twilight hour under Mrs. Litchfield's bed. Chief-Detective T. Cribson conducted the prosecution, and Mr, R. Twyneham aoocared for the accused. Evangeline Litchfield said that on September 21 last she was working in the garden of her residence in Derby Street. The front door was open. At about 6.30 pan. she returned from the garden and had tea in the kitchen. Later she went to her bedroom for her slippers. She switched on the light and saw a man's feet sticking out from under the end of her bed. She called to her daughter Cynthia, "There's a man under my bed." The man came from under tho bed and al tempted to escape, but the witness caught hold of him by the coat. She called him a brute and several other names, and asked him what he was doing there. He made no reply. Identification ol Intruder. The witness and her daughter held him until he had pulled them into Derby Street. Then he got away. A week ago last Monday the accused was on a lorry with a man who delivered wood at witness' house. Davison was leaning with his head on the seat of tho lorry. As tho witness came along she walked to tho lorry and looked at him, and he said, "How do you do?" Witness, who had recognised him, replied, "How do you do ?" Last Monday morning the witness saw Davison again at the police station and identified him. She spoke to him there. First he denied that he was the man, but on her promise not to take further proceedings he admitted that he was. The witness had no authority from the police to make such a promise and no police officers wore present. The police were bringing the present proceedings and she had no part in them. Mr. Twyneham: Did you hear any noise at all up to the time you went into the bedroom ? Witness: None whatever. Mr. Twyneham: Was anything about the place disturbed at all? Witness: No, nothing. To Mr. Twyneham witness explained that when she said the accused denied ho was the man at the police station she meant lie denied his identity. She said to him, "I presume you were there to steal," and ho said, "I've never stolen anything in my life." Davison gave no reason as to why lie had been at the house. Cynthia Litchfield, the 10-vear-old daughter of the previous witness, also gave evidence. In a statement he made to the police Davison said he went into a house in Derby Street. 'The door was open. He did not know whose house it. was. Ho had been in the place only a couple of minutes when he heard footsteps, and he crawled under a bed. Then he heard footsteps in the room and he crawled out again and ran out of the bouse. He could give no reason for his going intc the house. No Protection for Women. The magistrate said lie did not think there was sufficient evidence of an at- | tempt to steal. The fact that a man was found under a woman's bed at night could not be taken as evidence that he : was there to steal. Davison should have been brought up on a charge of being a rogue and vagabond, in that he was found on a residence at night without lawful excuse. Chief-Detective Gibson said that such a charge could not be brought, because the sun set at 5.53 on that evening, and Mrs. Litchfield said that Davison was at the house at 6.40. For that charge to bo brought Davison would have to be at the house later than an hour after sunset. The Magistrate: There is not sufficient evidence of an attempt to steal. The Chief-Detective: There is no protection for women at all. The Magistrate: iso, of course there is not. Mr. Twyneham: Alter tho legislation. The charge was dismissed.