CHARGE OF ABDUCTION

Otago Witness, Issue 4074, 12 April 1932, Page 67

CHARGE OF ABDUCTION

LEGAL POINT RAISED MAGISTRATE RESERVES DECISION. NAPIER, April 7. An abduction charge against Percy William Roberts, of New Plymouth, a traveller, is being heard in the Napier Police Court. The police evidence asserted that a girl of 17 years had gone to Gisborne with the accused, where misbehaviour had taken place. When the accused heard that the police were searching for him he returned the girl to her home. One girl witness said that she had previously travelled with the accused and visited Taranaki, being left at Eltham while Roberts went on to New Plymouth. She understood that she was going to Gisborne up till the time she heard the other girl had gone in her place. Counsel for the accused said he felt justified in stating that the charge under the section had not been proved and therefore must fail. He maintained that the girl had not been under the control of her parents since she was in her teens, and since November last she admitted that she had been keeping bad company. His Worship, however, decided that he was not prepared to dismiss the ease, and thereupon the defence called evidence. The accused said he had asked the girl whether she thought she was doing wrong in going away with him but she replied that she was her own boss. She communicated with her parents twice while in Gisborne, and had also applied for a position there. Cross-examined the accused said he had taken the girl away as a companion, and she had assisted him in his business. At the conclusion of the evidence his Worship said he would give his decision later, and perhaps ask the Crown Solicitor to decide the question of law involved. He accordingly adjourned the case for a week, bail being allowed the accused in his own recognisance of £lOO.