TWO YOUTHS FINED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22356, 29 February 1936, Page 18

TWO YOUTHS FINED

DISTURBANCE IN THEATRE COMMISSIONAIRE ASSAULTED Described by the police as members of a gang that had been creating disturbances in a city picture theatre, two brothers, Lindsay Garfield Rhind (Mr. O'Donnell) and Ernest Bertram Rhind (Mr. Hall SkeltOn),. appeared in the Police Court yesterday charged with assaulting the commissionaire of the theatre last month.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty, but were convicted and each fined £5 and costs, in default one month's imprisonment. "We have to stop this larrikinism in theatres," said the magistrate, Mr. F. K. Hunt, who ordered that half tho amount of each fine should go to the complainant as compensation For the medical expenses and loss of wages he had incurred as the result of an injury received in the assault. Senior-Detective Hall said the man- , agement of the theatre had been troubled by larrikins who collected in groups on Saturday nights and secured seats in the circle before the picture started. They left to come, down into the foyer and when they returned expected to occupy their seats again. On this occasion, when the lights went out, tho two defendants were standing near the fire exit. This was a breach of the regulations, continued Mr. Hall, so the commissionaire asked them to leave and go where other seats were available. They said the manager had given them permission to stand there, but tho commissionaire found this statement to be incorrect. He again asked them to leave, and then it was alleged that Lindsay Rhind struck him a heavy blow in the face, while the other youth kicked him in the eye while he was down. The commissionaire, Walter Herbert Scott, described how Lindsay Rliind had struck him on the forehead, and Ernest Rhind had kicked him in the eye as he rolled down the stairs. He had had to receive medical treatment for a cut above his eye. The magistrate said he believed the story told by the commissionaire.