A SERIOUS CHARGE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16711, 22 April 1925, Page 5

A SERIOUS CHARGE.

An allegation of assaulting a young woman with criminal intent was preieried against a young man, Humid Duncan McLaren, before Air. ,E. C. I.evvey, N.M.. at the Magistrate's ( uurr this morning. Sr11:or• >ergeam Fitzpatrick pro.MUtiled, and Mr. 1.. L. Buriiarii appeared for the. ai: used. Prior In I he vmnmcnccineiil of the prui ceilings, i lie Magistrate ordered rlie Ci.e.rl I" be eieareu, and ruled that the names of femaJe wo nesses should nut lie pulil.jjlici!. < Hi lining the case, (Iw senior-si 'geiuit ,- a.d i tie ai eased was em])h>yed as a si i blcband. Du i In- ninrn.ug of April Id lie linn : 111 ] 11 u.ichcil the young lady in i piesi ii hi . amt primarily attempted to kiss Lit : ii,.- mi I isia j i.ien li y locked Die door and inisbeha v ed. i living evidence, the young woman nl ihal she had gone to the house oi iln-a. •e . ii. employer to we the news I..ipin . Khe wa., sitting on the. doov-a,-p. re. idling when the amused came ah,me an,l sat down beside her. asking f,„ a piece of the pa pm-. The mi.-used l hen pm to-.", arm round her waist, and e. 1 .111.1 not let her go. The lady of t,he laui.se iutvi'feied. and told the accused to leave whins:. liiniie. I.nt lie did not. and pulled Inv inside. Witness called lor |, ( Ip and i l ied tu get away, but aecii.sed handled her very roughly and improperly. Willies.-, Ii11a! I y released herselL and u iieri she said she was going for the ja I ice, Ihe accused said lie had not done any harm. I hem were no men about Die house at the lime, and only one other ’inly, who had hot nine terrified and gone awav. The accused was practically a stranger to her. alt hough she had ureas’ - 11 : 1 11 v spoken io him. To Mr. Barnard, witness denied that she was friendly with the accused, and had spent half an hour with him the previous morning. She had seen linn that night, when lie called her down (he Mallies and iried to make a "meet" with her. bin she refused, saving she dal not go out with his sort. Elia had seen llk-accused several times during the prevail- two months. Mr. Buriiard : You became rather torn! of 1 1 iin7— T did not. He was quite liaimless to me. Was not that the I run me.' Did von not wrnpiaiii that lie was too slow.' No. Did vmi not say lie would not see you Imnic from the 'car. and you Imd to cret- n not lie;' buv lo take you home.— Never. I had company to see me home. Did you not frequently discuss him with others? No: I knew lie was a quiet sort nl hoy. and titwei d.siu-.5,.. ruin. , • i • i You woe not interested tit him nocause he uas so quiet . fte w a,-, nothing to me. You frequently talked about o,her I ~vs'.'-—Not abotii accused. But about oilier boys? -I may have mir e o'.' t w ice. Further questioned, the witness sa:d she knew a man in Napier--whose name was not revealed—'but she mad onlv written tu him once, and denied he was married. Three years ago she was keepin-* company with another man. who berime the father nf her illegitimate dpld. II was not a frrl that she had been rhnsing the accused and found him too

The miss-examination was continued at sumo length. . The housekeeper of the accused s employee .gave evidence lluvt accused put his arms round the girl’s neck and endeavored to kiss her. At first . flic latter treated the matter as a joke. When he -started to take her inside it was viewed more seriously. Witness had thought, they were skylarking, for she had often seen the accused and the mrl speaking to one auoiher. Witness t/ Id the accused lo leave the girl alone and let. her go home, but neither of them took any notice.' After the pair got inside, witness heard the girl call out to her to .go and see what the. accused was doing. '’Witness tried to get assistance, but could not see anyone. When sho went hack sho found tho girl in the house crying. To Mr Barnard the witness said the girl had said she liked the accused, bat complained that he was too quiet, and shy. The previous dnv the accused and the girl had been together for some time. When the two were sitting on the sten reading the paper they were just skylarking. and when the accused went to |. is s her the girl remarked that his face was very rough. Witness was not alarmed at the accused’s behavior, but rhe objected to it in the house. (She thought one was as much to blame as I lie other.

A sistc-r of the uirl gave evidence lli.it the ’ratter had returned home in a very upset state, crying and giving every Indication of having gone through a trying ordeal. Rhe fold witness what had happened, and witness rang up the police, To Me Pan mud the witness said there had been :m trouble in keeping ihe girl away from men.'with llm exception of her one downfall. Tsu't it a fact that slip is nlwavs running after some man or other?- No. not running after them: just speaking to them. To other questions the witness said she had told her sister she did not like In see her talking so freely lo anyone on Ihe roadside. Constable Thompson stated that in a written statement the accused had admitted putting his arm round the girl and kissing her. hut denied that he had done anything further, nr that Die girl had nrotested. Mr Buriiard, for the defence, submit led that there was no case to go to a jury. Under the circumstances lw submitted that there was no occasion to put the country to the expense of a Supreme Court trial. The senior-sergeant staled (hat a prinia facie ease had been made nrt. The Magistrate said tie would not take the responsibility of decidin’’' the case, 'the accused was committed to the Supreme Court for trial.