SAVAGE ASSAULT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19882, 8 March 1939, Page 14

SAVAGE ASSAULT

MAN ATTACKS WOMAN ALLEGED HAMMER ELOWS INCIDENT IN HOME YOUNG MAN CHARGED (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. A middle-aged woman was the victim of a savage attack by a man who eniered her home in Parnell about 2 o’clock on Monday afternocu. At the time of the assault she was alone in the house and was attacked as she was about to enter the bathroom. Covered in blood from a wound on the head, she managed to struggle to the verandah to seek assistance. According to the story told by a neighbour who went to the woman’s assistance, the victim was alone in her home, had filled the bath, and was in the act of walking along the passage to obtain a towel whet; she was surprised by a man who. entered by the side door. She was disrobed except for a towel, which* she. hurriedly wrapped around her. The man had in his hand a hammer which, it is alleged, he obtained from under the house. With this he is alleged to have struck her a blow on the head. The woman fell to the floor and a struggle ensued, the man, it is alleged, gripping her around the throat with both hands and also biting her finger. Cries Heard by Neighbours The woman managed to free herself from her assailant, and went to the verandah still in the nude. Here she cried for assistance. Her cries were heard by next-door neighbours, two women. Both ran next door and found the woman covered in blood and suffering from shock The man alleged to be responsible for the assault entered the house to inquire about the victim’s condition, and he remained about the premises until a detective arrived by car. Although seriously hurt, tile woman is not thought to be in any danger. Yesterday morning, John Henry Chave, a labourer, aged \ 31, was charged in the Police Court that, with intent to do grevious bodily harm to a woman, lie did actual bodily harm to her. * Detective-Sergeant Walsh asked that the accused be remanded until March 15 ‘ . “The woman involved in this case is 50, and she was rather seriously injured,” he added. “I would also as-'-that the accused should be medically examined during the interval. The remand was granted.