Police Court

Southland Times, Issue 14684, 2 July 1900, Page 4

Police Court

Fbidav, 29tii June. (Before Maj-jr Keddell, S.M.) ALLEGED ASSAULT. William R. Nairn, farmer, Otatara Bash, was charged witb having, at Otatara, assaulted Peier Greig so as to cause him grievous bodily harm. Sergeant O'Neill i proTecuted, and Mr F. Russell appear ei for I the accused. T_9 inform*ot sail he left hia home for Invercargill oh the 19 h inst., and met the accused on the road. The accused assaulted him, and kicked him at out; the head. The scuffla lasted from twenty minutes to half ao hour. Nairu said ho would give witness ano:her thrashing the following week. Hp had witness down and kept him down. Witness cime to Invercargill ti see Dr Mj!h"lland who attended to him. Accused was going ti pay witness £1 ; witness did not a ; .k bim for it. Crossexamined : He did not assault th" accused first, and had not kicked bim. He Btrnck Nairn ooce. Witness had not told Mrs Campbell that he bad given accused as much as accused gave him, nor that he was only hurt on the facs. Mrs Campbell never asked who started tbe fight. The fight ended by wi'ness throwing the accused off and leaving the plaoe. Ace s d did not cay he would let the witness up if he wonld stop fighting. Witness never asked for the money. Witness had been three days in bed. It was not a f--cl that he was on bad terms with a good many of his neighbours. Witness was 50 years of age. He flatly denied kioking accused anywhere — Dr Mulholl«nd said tbat when the prosecutor called on 19th Jane his face and ears were covered with blood, and bis hair was matted with it. There were two bruises on the back of his head, a wound on the bridge of the nose, another under the eye and several others. Grc : g said he had been knocked about and kicked. From indications on the forehead witness thought the wounds had been made by a boot. The injuries were of' a serious nitare. Cross-examined : The bruises on the back of the bead might bave been caused by falling on a hard eutmance. The boot marks were not very severe and he did not think they had been caused by intentional kicks. — Constable Ferguson deposed that when he accosted accused he said the prosecutor had asked him to fight and kicked him twice and he punched him.— For the defence Dr Fullarton f aid be had examined accused and found seyeral bruises, also tbe prosecutor and he agreed with description of the marks and bruises given by Dr Mulholland. Saw no injuries on Greig that he would attribute to a kick or stamping rom heavy boots. The prosecutor had told fim there were no bruises on bis body and hhe bruises on his face were such as a man would receive in a fight with fists. — Catherine Campbell said she saw Greig on day of quarrel. He had blood running over bis face and he said Nairn had done it Nairn owed bim money and would not pay. Prosecutor said Nairn and be had had a fight. He said he did not feel sick cr ill tind that his faceywas the only part that had been hurt. He washed his face and went away. Witness asked more than once who struck tbe first blow and prosecutor made no answer. He never said that he had been kicked. — The accused deposed he was going from town when he met prosecutor. After some words over a debt which Greig claimed prosecutor said they would fight. He would not give witness time to take his coat off but hit him in the face and kicked him on the body. Witness threw him and held him down till he said be would stop. When prosecutor got up he siid he would summons the aocused. Witness had never been in trouble before either in or out of court and was on good terms with all bis neighbours. —To Sergeant O'Neill : Had not kicked tbe prosecutor or knocked bim down, or knelt on his chest, or hit him in the face when down. Greig had a claim against him whioh he did not recognise. — His Worship said he need nob hear any more witnesses for tbe defence. Allowing informant's story to be true and all uncontradicted it was a case that could be dealt with under the Summary Jurisdiction Act. But the informant's story was obviously an exaggeration. He said he had been punished from twenty minutes to half an hour and the only result was the condition described by the doctors. That was plainly aa exaggeration. There was the evidence of a disinterested witness in Mrs Camphe'l. The prosecutor, if his story bad been true, would surely have said that he was atsaultsd in a cowardly manner, kicked, etc, but he said nothing of the kind. To the pertinent question who struck tbe first blow, the prosecutor made no answer. The charge would be dismissed.