ASSAULT ON BOYS

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11649, 13 October 1923, Page 5

ASSAULT ON BOYS

SCOUTMASTER’S GRIME 'subject OF ABNORMAL SEXUAL MENTALITY. EIGHT YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, October 12. A sentence of eight years’ imprisonment was imposed by Mr Justice Sim on Hector Froggatt, ex-scoutmaster, who had pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault on boya. The sentence was that ho be imprisoned for two yearn on each of the charges, the sentences to be cumulative. ACCUSED’S CAREER, Mr Hunter, who appeared for Froggatt, said he waa 22 years of age, and was the youngest child of a large family of respectable people. He joined the .boy scouts at the age of ten, and was always a very active and enthusiastic member of the organisation. At the age of 17 he volunteered for active service, but it was discovered that he was under age, and he was rejected. He performed hospital service on a New Zealand hospital ship, and he had been scoutmaster of six separate troops during the past five years. During the influenza epidemiclie rendered voluntary service of an unusual nature, and was thanked by tho Government. He had been- a swimming instructor to one school and boxing instructor to another. By occupation he was a process block engraver, but he gave thie up to devote his time to the boy scout movement. He received a very small honorarium during the first year, and really spent more than he got. and in the second year he was paid £l3O. AN ABLE OFFICER.

As to the work he had done, Mt Hunter directed His Honour’s attention to the evidence of Mr Lancaster, who said he had been an enthusiastic and able officer. When these matters were discovered,- said Mr Hunter, there was a meeting of parents, and it was tacitly decided that no action should be taken, and that Froggatt should leave the country directly. This he did, and it was true that he went under an assumed name. He had pleaded guilty to the charges largely with a desire that the boys should not he brought into court and submitted to cross-examination. He had desired very Etrongly also not to bring any more scandal upon the boy scout movement and the other organisations with which he had been connected. There was no doubt that Froggatt was a subject of sexual abnormality. Offences such as this by a young man of a high, altruistic outlook could not be committed unless he was suffering from some abnormality. A HOMO-SEXUALIST.

Dr Bevan Brown, who was called by Mr Hunter, said he had seen Froggatt, and had made inquiry into his case. After defining homo-sexuality, witness said Froggatt’s offences were attributable to homo-sexuality and the environment in which he had lived for the past ton years. Under certain conditions the homosexual instinct might develop. These conditions were: (1) A certain type of mental constitution. He found that Froggatt conformed to this type of mental constitution. (2) A weakness or absence of the moral sense. As far as witness had been able to discover, Froggatt’s moral sense was fairly well • marked, but against that he found that he had been brought up in astonishing ignorance of sexual matters. (3) Upbringing and environment. Prisoner had been associated with the hoy 6Cout movement, and had worked with these boys for many years. The influence of such environment was one to which prisoner, by reason of his mental constitution, was susceptible, and it was clear that he was not responsible for the existence in himself of this abnormal and unnatural desire. It arose from causes outside himself, but he must ho responsible for controlling that desire. CAPABLE OF CONTROLLING . HIMSELF. Witness was quite satisfied that Froggatt was capable of controlling himself, and he did not regard the case on the same footing as cases of premeditated and unlicensed lust. He considered that if Froggatt were placed in suitable environment, such as the country, away from all association with boys or the boy scout movement, and given hard physical work, he would he capable of becoming a normal and decent member of society. '/ DESTROYED HIS TRUST. Mr Donnelly. Crown Prosecutor, said the gravity of the charges lay in the fact that accused was in a position of trust, and betrayed it. His Honour said there was no doubt offences of this kind were very serious, and it was his plain duty to impose a substantial term of imprisonment. i