DIVORCE SOUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22733, 20 May 1937, Page 17

DIVORCE SOUGHT

HUSBAND'S PETITION

INCIDENT IN HOUSE DOOR SMASHED WITH AXE A dissolution of his marriage with Margaret Wyatt and £350 damages against a co-respondent were sought by Frederick Thomas Bond Wyatt before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury of 12 in the Supreme Court yesterday. The parties were married at Kaitaia on April 3, 1920, and there are two children of the marriage, born in 1921. and 1924. The petition was based on the allegation that on November 14, 1936, the respondent committed adultery with Thomas lvil, accountant, of Auckland. Mr. Henry and Mr. Thwaites appeared for the petitioner, Mr. Singer ior the respondent and Mr. Dyson for the corespondent. Mr. Henry said that the petitioner had a greengrocer's round and his wife and he had lived together at Royal Oak until the date of the alleged offence. The wife had been doing some nursing work. In November last the petitioner became suspicious of his wife. On the night of November 14 he heard suspicious movements in his wife's room and called a neighbour to help him to investigate. He had to break in the door with an axe, and they saw respondent and co-respondent in the room. CJhase Up the Road

Ivil jumped out of the window and Wyatt chased hitn up the road and caught him, said Mr. Henry. A long conference between the parties ensued. Mr. Henry submitted that if the circumstances were incompatible with innocence, it was their duty to draw an inference of guilt. The petitioner described the events of the evening of November 14, and said that when he caught Ivil his wife threatened him with an axe. A friend, William llamsay, who was with him, got it away from her. Later in the evening throe detectives' camo to the house. Witness left his home next day and had not lived with his wife since. His wife and he had previously been separated. To Mr. Singer, witness said his wife had taken out a summons Against him for failure to maintain and persistent cruelty, but an agreement was come to.' For part of 1934 and 1935 he allowed his wife an average of 27s 6d a week to maintain herself and the two children. In September, 1935, they agreed to come together again. One of the old ladies his wife had been nursing was ivil's mother. On the evening of No vember 14 lie heard his wife ring up for the. police. Struggle cn Road William Ramsay, retired power board employee and previously a member of the Police Force for 26 years, who was called in by the petitioner on the night of November 14, corroborated petitioner's evidence. He said Wyatt had Ivil down on the ground and had him by the throat when he came up with them. Mrs. Wyatt would have struck Wyatt on the head with an axe if he had not stoppfld her and taken it from her after a struggle. Mr. Singer said that Ivil went to the house to get some articles belonging to his mother, who had died there, and Mrs. Wvatt was sorting them out for him when Wyatt started to break into the room. It was his hammering that caused a defective light in the room to go out. The case was only a nastv interpretation of a perfectly innocent situation. Wyatt made no accusations at the time. The respondent said she had been separated from her husband from October, 1934, to September, 1935. Old Mrs. Ivil was cared for bv her in witness' home until her death at the age of 92 last September. During her illness she was frequently visited by members ot her family, including her son, the corespondent. The hearing was adjourned until today. _________