APPALLING ALLEGATIONS

NZ Truth, Issue 985, 11 October 1924, Page 6

APPALLING ALLEGATIONS

Six Charges Of' Incest & -

(From "Truth's" Taranaki Rep.) Before Mr. A. M. Mowlem, S.M., Jit, New Plymouth last week, Samuel Percy Julian, aged -39, a share-milker, of Tikorangi, was charged on six counts with the crime of incest. The terrible nature of the allegations made against Julian lay m the fact that no less than four of his daughters swore that the father had had illicit relations with them, the eldest, aged ly, stating that she had had two children by him, ''while all further alleged that the illicit relationships commenced when they were only 10 to 12 years old. After hearing the evidence, Julian pleaded'not guilty and was committed for trial at the next sessions of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth. Mr.. L. M. Moss, who appeared for the accused, applied for bail. He stated that Julian came of a very respectable family, and that sureties woujd be forthcoming. Detective-Sergeant J. Cooney, who prosecuted,, opposed the granting of the application. ' The. Magistrate said he thought that m view of the evidence he would be doing an injustice if he released .the accused: Che, application would therefore be refused. ,The Court was.clearer! during the hearing of the cas"e,;and the Magistrate made an order suppressing the names of the witnesses. ' The charges covered a period from March 3, 1923, to September 21, 1924. The eldest girl, who is riow married, said there had been illicit relations between lifer and her father repeatedly since she was 11 or 12 years of age, but she had not told anyone about them, as her father had threatened to knock her head off if she did so. He had promised to put money m the bank for her. When her first child was about to be born, the girl said, her mother 'had made some inquiries, but owing to her father's threats she had refused to divulge the name of the father of the child. Her father had suggested that she should blame someone else, but no name /was mentioned. I Julian had never questioned her as 'o the paternity of the child. The child was born/ m a home at Inglewood, her mother paying- the expenses. The. girl added that her. second child was porn m December of last year. Evidence given by three .other daughters was also to the effect that Julia,n had had illicit relations with them, since the tender ages of 10 or. 11 years. , : ' All the girl's swQve that their father had threatened violence, if they disclosed the secret, one adding that he had threatened to cut her throat i£ she told. , „ Julian's son also gave evidence against his father, the boy stating that m consequence of a threat' by his father to give him a hiding, he had run away from home a few weeks ago to his eldest sister's place. He told her that he had seen their father and sisters m suggestive circumstances, and after questioning by his ■ sister, they went to the police at Rahotu and gave information against the accused,, a? this girl said, "to save her sisters from going through what she had suffered." Medical evidence showed that the girls sustained severe physical injuries which could have been caused by illegal interference.