IN WOMEN’S ATTIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24825, 27 January 1942, Page 4

IN WOMEN’S ATTIRE

MAN’S STRANGE CONDUCT ARRESTED IN TIMAR3U (P.A.) TIMARU, Jan.- 26. How a well-known Timaru business man paraded in women’s clothing in Caroline Bay on Sunday, when he aroused suspicion as a spy and: was later arrested in the women’s watiting room at the Timaru railway station was told in the Magistrate’s Court today. The accused was William Claude Marcelle Preen, married, aged 41. i He pleaded guilty to being found unlawfully in the waiting room at the (station.

The police said that Preen could give no excuse for his conduct, but pnobably had seen so many women in rriale attire that he thought he could female attire. The idea had been in his mind for some time, and he had bought the clothes in Christchurch and Timaru. There was no evidence that he had molested any women. When found in the waiting room he was reading a book and smoking, which was “ nothing out of the way for females in these days.” It was mentioned that he travelled by train to Christchurdh dressed in the same way. Counsel said that Preen, who was drawn in the last ballot, had been a respected citizen of Timaru for the last 24 years. His lapse was the result, of some craze to see how it would feel to dress like a woman. He had been thinking about it for a long time, and. with his wife away and mobilisation pending it was his last opportunity. The magistrate, Mr H. Morgan, said the case was probably one for medical investigation rather than for punishment as a criminal offence.

Preen was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within 12 months.