Saved Woman from Husbands Attack

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 966, 8 May 1930, Page 1

Saved Woman from Husbands Attack

PROTECTOR IN COURT MISSIONER’S CLAIM FAILS A story of matrimonial trouble was told in the Magistrate's Court this morning, when the hearing of a claim by a Wesleyan missioner of Birkenhead, William John Tremayne Thomas, against Percy Wilfrid Waite Johnston, an orchardist, for £l5O general damages, arising out of an alleged assault, was dismissed by Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M. The taking of evidence was marked by emotional outbursts and fierce crossexamination. lu opening the case for the defence, Mr. W. E. Stilwell said witnesses would show that the plaintiff was grievously injuring his wife and that, in desperation, she sent for her brother, fearing that dire results might follow. The evidence went to show that plaintiff rushed out at Johnston as he came in. Johnston grappled with him and, with the assistance of his father-in-law. took him to the police station. There was a direct denial of the suggestion that a blow had been struck by a baton or even by a fist. WOMAN’S EVIDENCE How she was awakened on the night of January 29 last by quarrelling in the next room was described by Rebecca R. Mitchell, a spinster, who had lived for a month with the Thomas family. Thomas himself then rushed outside, crying out, “O Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. I have married a woman without a soul.” Witness went to Mrs. Thomas’s bedroom, where she found that Thomas had his w r ife by the throat. When she tried to interfere, he had seized her round the waist and thrown her against the wall. Thomas struck his wife with his fist, then, seizing her by the throat, he demanded that she should leave him. She promised to go in the morning. Turning to the child sleeping in the bed, Thomas said, “You are to leave the child.” “I said, ‘You cannot take the child from a good mother,’ ” continued witness. “Thomas then rushed at me and hurled me bodily from the room, saying that there would be bloodshed and murder. He then shouted to his wife, ‘I soon made short work of her.’ I crawled out to the bush to rest, and then crawled and walked to Mr. Johnston’s home, as Mrs. Thomas had asked me to.” TWO MEN TO RESCUE

Witness told how she had brought back both Johnston and his father-in-law, Houlihan. They had talked to Mrs. Thomas through the window, and at her request, had entered the house to take Thomas away as they were afraid he might do some harm. Thomas rushed at Johnston as they entered, knocking over the candle, and there was a struggle in the darkness. The two visitors took Thomas away to the police station. Witness did not see any weapon, either used or carried.

“On a previous occasion my husband seemed to lose control of himself after a trying day, and threatened to poison me,” Henrietta May Thomas told the court. On the day in question he did not return from a visit to Auckland until she was in bed. He had obviously been drinking and offered her a glass of ale. He began to say she had ruined his life and to rave like a lunatic, seizing her by the throat. She sent Miss Mitchell to bring her brother, who lived threequarters of a mile away. Her husband had gone to bed when the others arrived, continued Mrs. Thomas. She did not see any struggle but heard one, and later saw a surface cut on her husband’s face. Her husband had suffered from fainting fits and dizziness for some time.

In reply to Mr. Sullivan, witness said she had continued to live with her husband-until two days ago, when the case opened, but she would not return, now. It had been suggested that she and the child should go to Mr. Sullivan’s office when proceedings were over, but she declared she would never' do so. “I LOVE MY HUSBAND”

“I am very particular,” she added. “Apparently your husband is not the only nervous, highly-strung person in the house,” commented the magistrate.

Witness told how she had spoken to Johnston and Houlihan, and asked them to take her husband away.

“I love my husband,” she declared pathetically. “I understand him and know how to handle him.” At this declaration Thomas broke down and sobbed.

“I stopped at home because I could not neglect the house. I knew my husband’-s condition was caused through drink. This was the first time he had been intoxicated,” concluded witness.

Percy Wilfrid Waite Johnston told how Thomas had rushed at him as he entered the room. He was soon under control and was taken to the police station. “The whole charge is a fabrication of lies,” he declared. “I have no time for Thomas and, in fact, I have ordered him off my place as he did no work. I did not strike him on that night or on later occasions, as he alleges.”

Mr. Sullivan: Have you ever called him names or threatened to ‘pull his liver out’?—Never.

Evidence was also given by Frank Houlihan, father-in-law of Johnston. “The evidence does not prove that plaintiff was struck by Johnston, and his injuries are consistent rather v,ith those likely to be received in a scuffle,” said the magistrate. “I am confident that the story heard from Miss Mitchell after she had walked three-quarters of a mile in her bare feet was somewhat highly-coloured, owing to her own experiences. I believe that Thomas's state did justify the actions of both the women and of the men.”

An application for a non-suit by Mr. Sullivan was over-ruled, and judgment, with costs, entered for the defence.