VERDICT WITHHELD
ALLEGED OFFENCE AGAINST STATE WARD POINT REFERRED TO APPEAL 1 COURT. CHRISTCHURCH, August 20. The verdict in cases against several men in the Supreme Court this session concerning alleged offences against girls who had escaped from the Burwood Home will have to be withheld until the terms of the section of the Child Welfare Act under which they are charged has been interpreted by the Court of Appeal. Alan Hirst was charged with having attempted to commit an offence against a female inmate of an institution under the Child Welfare Act, 1925, who was at the time of the offence resident in a State institution, the girls’ home at Burwood.
The jury was directed to reply to two questions—(l) Did the accused attempt the offence alleged; (2) did the accused know that the girls had escaped from a home? The jury replied that he did attempt the offence, but without knowledge of the fact that the girl had escaped. Hirst was remanded until the November sessions.
Tn the meantime the Court of Appeal will be asked to determine the following questions:—(l) Whether knowledge is an essential ingredient of the offence; (2) whether the girl was resident in the institution within the meaning of the Act?
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 4041, 25 August 1931, Page 8
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207VERDICT WITHHELD Otago Witness, Issue 4041, 25 August 1931, Page 8
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