FATHER'S BRUTALITY.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 427, 15 July 1913, Page 7

FATHER'S BRUTALITY.

YOUNG DAUGHTER ACQUITTED

A shocking story was narrated at the Sydney Criminal Court a few days ago, when a girl named Kathleen Mary Siely was placed on her trial on a charge of having murdered her father, Walter Siely, at Shellharbor on March 2. The first witness, Robert Henry Ellis, a laborer, living at stated : 1 was attracted on the morning of March 2 by a scream. I went to deceased's home. Walter Siely was lying on the sofa, and appeared to be dead. Katie (the accused) came into the room and said : " Oh, dear, Ellis; he was going to kill mother. I did it to save her." Deceased was an habitual drunkard all the time I knew him. He was very unkind to all the members of his family. He always brought home a large quantity of whisky and beer on Saturday nights. He was a big man. ' Under drink he was a brute, and a perfect savage to his family, beating them with sticks and whips, and compelled them to do work such as sawing and chopping wood and harnessing horses. Accused has | frequently come to me for protection. She had to go out to earn her own living. ' She is very well liked by everybody. It is well known that she is passionately fond of her mother. I Constable Arthur Foster stated that when, he came to the house he found the girl Katie crying. She said: "I shot father. He loaded a gun to shoot us all, and was sharpening a knife to kill mum. I got the gun and shot him." Kathleen Mary Siely (the accused) said : My father was frequently drunk, and used to swear at mother and me, and beat : us with a whip-handle, a walking stick, ! a belt-buckle, and sometimes with his fists. Wh^n my younger brother was only three months old father thrashed him with a belt-buckle, and drew blood. There are three sisters and two brothers, and they were all treated alike. Dozens * of times father threatened mother with ah ' axe or with a knife. Mother had to take m washing, because father would only give her about 10s of his pay. On one occa- ' sion, because mother would not give him ! money to buy drink, father seized a large ■' bundle of clean clothes that had just been ironed to be sent homeland threw them out m the wet and trampled upoh them. He then threw mother's clothes out also. On several occasions he burnt mine and the other children's clothes, and destroyed pictures and other articles. On the Saturday night before father's death he went to the hotel, and did not get home till yery late. He brought home, nine bottles of ale and two bottles qf whisky. I saw him about six o'clock m the morning sitting m the front room with a neighbor drinking. Father went to sleep after several hours' drinking m the back bedroom, and when he woke at 11 o'clock he was very cranky, and swore at mother. Ho asked for money, knowing that I had about 30s. I wanted to give it to mother, but he raised his hand and threatened her. I then gave him the money and said : "Give mum some." He swore at me. Father then asked mother to get carti ridges, which she did. He loaded the gun, and said. to mother: "I'll blow your i brains out." I said : "Not while I'm here, j you won't." He said: "I'll blow your brains out, too, if you give me any of your : cheek," accompanying each word with an oath. He then sat down on the sofa m the kitchen, with the gun loaded and cocked beside him. He said he was going to give Walter a hiding with a greenhide ' whip, and then he would hang for the lot of us. He then pointed the gun at . mother. I rushed and caught hold of it with both hands, one at the barrel and one at the stock. Father's hand was on the trigger. He lurched back on the sofa, and the gun went off. Constable M'Hugh stated that deceased was cruel to his horses, and had frequently beaten his wife and children and threatened their lives. Accused was a wellbehaved arid industrious girl. After ten minutes' deliberation the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and accused was discharged.