A SEXUAL SINNER.

NZ Truth, Issue 172, 3 October 1908, Page 6

A SEXUAL SINNER.

Dirty Beast Patton.

• An astonishing case, of immprality occurred .at Christchurch recently ; m fact it was a record m that particular class of sexual crime m New ' Zealand. Andrew Patton, a slouching, nondescript sort of creature, was charged m Ohristchjurch S.M. Court with committing an offence against the. moral code . that this religious and sensitive newspaper acknowledges it cannot mention openly. Andrew may or. may not be a' degenerate person, but the charge „ m the Magistrate's Court was to. the effect that on the 27th, m Oxford Terrace (last Sunday af-tesrnoon)', he did something sexually of which civilisation doesn't, approve. It is probably the first case) m" New Zealand, and the Court, over which Magistrate Bishop presided, expressed its. astonishment. The entry of the culprit was somewhat dramatic.

HE SLOUCHED INTO THE DOCK J With backward,, halting step, and was regarded with interest by a-crowded Court, although there was not much"" to look at, the man failing to sustain, m speech, the. interest that yfas felt m Mm. When asked to plead he looked as though he didn't know what to say, then he mum- [ bled "Guilty," apparently dazed v by his [ surroundings. Magistrate Bi&hop, .who appeared amazed at the quality of the offence, asked of Station-Sergeant Johnston what the particulars were. .-/.'. „ That officer/ replied that Pa'tton was seen openly -m the Municipal Council; grounds, wljich breast the Avon, by a gentleman and his wife, to do the astounding sexual thing. "Dirty ; 'beast!" remarked Magistrate Bishop.- "Is. he' all right mentally. He doesn't look a ;sane man ?" ■".. Sergeant Johnston doubted. He added, further,, that the man was reputed to have a bank balance of £288 ; also" to have, m addition, seven or eight houses, with an • average rental of 7s 6d a week. ' His' Worsh/p appeared mystified. "Where do you live ?" he asked. "In St. Asaph-street," replied Patton, la .'a halting voice.' V • In reply to a' further query by his Worship, Sergearat Johnston remarked that the police taiew nothing about the man. His Worship, remarked that IT WAS A 'SERIOUS QFFEN OE, involving a long term of imprisonment, and asked- if the 'man had ever been examined to determine whether he was m his right mind. 'Tec. Gibson, explained that the uncouth person lived .'with Mrs Harrison, of St." Asaph-street,, and was a man of means. '■. Sergeant Johnston stated that Patton had worked at Longbeach for some years, and. had afterwards invested his earnings, with the result that he had established a competence. ' '■ ■ His Worship asked of 'Tec. Gibson what was the man's character, and Gibson replied, "He is a regular miser; that is his trouble."" / '. , (Subse/q-deht investigation of this strange remark revealed the fact that Patton has always -refused to spend anything upon the .entertainment *of a woman.) Sergeant Johnston added : Yet he blames the police for putting women off the streets, yoiur Worship. Magistrate. Bishop remarked that it was more ' ■■■ > ' ■ . /^^HEAACT OF 1 ; A LUNATIC. . thaiva sane person. He had been of great riuUiy years on the Bench, but had never hs.ard of sucli a gross act m a public jplace. He suggested that Patton was a fit subject for examination by the gaol surgeon, mentally and physically, and granted a remand for that purpose.