ASSAULT ON CHINESE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25560, 13 June 1944, Page 2

ASSAULT ON CHINESE

SOLDIER BEFORE COURT A soldier with an excellent war record, CynS John Smith, agedl 21, pleaded guilty hi the City Police Court yesterday, before Mr H W. Bundle, S.M., to charges of assaulting Yee Hon. and of committ ng mischief by damaging a plate-glass window to the value of £22 15s and an electric light globe and a glass show case to the value of £3 9s. Mr C. H. Stevens appeared for the defendant. ~ . Senior Sergeant A. Johnston said that the police had received a complaint that the defendant and another man were causing trouble in Yee Hon s fruit shop in Princes street. Yee Hon alleged,that he had been kicked on the shin by the defendant. The trouble started when the defendant picked up a bunch of celery and walked out of the shop. The complainant followed and requested him to nav for it, which he refused to do. When the men returned to the shop the defendant smashed an electric light bulb and damaged a glass showcase. He had also pushed his foot back and damaged a plate-glass window. His companion had already been dealt with on a charge of drunkenness. Smith had suffered a serious cut on his foot as a result of the window smashing. The defendant, who was spending leave in Dunedin when the incident occurred, was a member of the second echelon, Senior Sergeant Johnston added. , Captain N. Buchanan, who represented the military authorities, stated that Smith had fought in Greece, Crete, and North Africa. After the evacuation of Crete he was missing for four months, and later arrived in Egypt. In the line he was described as a first-class soldier and one of the first to volunteer for dangerous missions. Mr Stevens said that the defendant had enlisted at the age of 17 and had returned to New Zealand with a furlough draft in January. He had consumed a good deal of liquor on the day of the offence, and had only a very hazy recollection of what had happened. He had not deliberately broken the window, counsel added, but had fallen against it and broken it.

“ It is difficult to deal with a man who has served his country well and has the record of a good soldier,” said the magistrate. Considering the defendant’s record and the facts that, in a ■ sense, he had received his own punishment and that there was an undertaking to make good the damage, his Worship added, he would adjourn the case for a period of two years, and if the defendant’s conduct were satisfactory the charge might be withdrawn or dismissed.