WOMAN TO STAND TRIAL

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1934, Page 7

WOMAN TO STAND TRIAL

ALLEGED USE OF INSTRUMENT.

SEQUEL TO YOUNG WOMAN’S DEATH

By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. _ At the conclusion of the police evidence concerning the death of a young woman who died in a private hospital on July 1 following an alleged illegal operation, Clara Nicholson, alias Naylor, aged 62, pleaded not guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial by Mr. E. Page, S.M., to-day. .The woman was charged that by unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage she caused the death of the girl, thereby committing manslaughter. Admissions that they had arranged to assist a young woman tc procure a miscarriage were made by witnesses. Lengthy evidence was heard from three witnesses, and one of .them was still in the box when the adjournment, was taken to-day. The magistrate ordered the suppression of the names of the deceased and her mother, but refused to suppress the names of two witnesses, William Albert Tubert, a married man, a Russian by birth and the proprietor of the “Glide” skating rink, and Elizabeth Metcalf.

The case was continued to-day. Further witnesses for the police included Elizabeth May Metcalf, who said that following the girl’s death she accompanied detectives to Island Bay and pointed out the house she and deceased visited. Witness described the interior of the house and described the woman she saw.

•Nurse Rachael de Burren, registered nurse, described the visit of the girl and her friend, whom she knew as May, to her nursing home. After the girl was admitted an instrument was handed to witness, and she burnt it. Witness did not use the instrument on the girl. Witness said it was May who handed her the instrument with a request that she should burn it, and it was May’s suggestion that Dr. Cotton should be sent for. Re-examined, witness said she. mentioned several names of doctors to the girl, but she refused to have them, saying she had private reasons. She agreed, however, to Dr. Cotton attending her.