CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18844, 23 April 1923, Page 11

CITY POLICE COURT

Saturday, April 21. (Before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.)

Assaulting a Car Conductor. —Arthur Middleton Legget pleaded guilty, under provocation, to a charge of assaulting Edwin Charles Hadden Jacob.—The complainant stated that shortly after 7 o’clock on Friday night the defendant, who was accompanied by a sailor and a woman, boarded the car on which he was conductor, at Hanover street. Defendant gave him a shilling for three penny fares, and witness returned him sixpence, threepence, and tho three tickets. The defendant said nothing when witness was returning to the back of the car, but later called him and accused him of giving only two tickets and no., change. Witness again went to the hack of the car, where the accused approached him to renew his accusation. On witness denying this, the defendant struck him on the side of the face. By this time the car was passing Dowling street. —The defendant stated that facts were just as tho complainant had stated, and all he had to add was that he had acted in a hasty moment. —Mr F. G. Gumming, probation officer, said that the defendnat was on probation , for a term of three years. His record so far had been good, and ho was sorry that such an incident had occurred. Legget was a married man, living apart from his wife, whom he was maintaining.—The Magistrate said that the defendant, with his part record and in view of hio present position, should have taken particular care to avoid any trouble of that kind. It was necessary that public servants such as conductors should be protected, and an assault on one of them was more serious than one on a private individual. However, in view of the probation officer’s good report, Legget would be treated leniently and fined £2 and £1 witneases’s expenses, in default 14 days’ imprisonment. Drunkenness. —Thomas Farrell, an old offender, was fined 13s 6d, in default 24 hours’ imprisonment, for drunkenness.—A first offender, who pleaded guilty to a similar charge, was fined 10s, in default 21 hours’ imprisonment.