ASSAULT CHARGE.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 19212, 19 September 1934, Page 2

ASSAULT CHARGE.

HUSBAND ARRESTED.

■ ■ ■■ I I Tied His Wife Up.

EVIDENCE IN COURT. "BEATING THE DEVIL OUT." i" ■! (By Telegraph—Press Association). AUCKLAND, Sept. 19. "It is alleged that this man yesterday assaulted his wife and tied her up, as he thought she was possessed of a devil, and that he would beat it out of her," said Inspector Edwards, when Bernard Benson Byatt, aged 36, labourer, appeared in the Police Court charged with assault. A constable said he was called to the house and found accused being held down by a man. Accused said he could not get his wife to accept Christ as he had. He also objected to her smoking cigarettes. The whole street was in a turmoil, witness added, and for accused's own sake, if for nothing else, witness arrested him. Accused, who admitted the of. fence, denied telling the constable he could not get his wife to accept Christ. He said his wife took a heavy ruler to him. Replying to the magistrate as to why he assaulted his wife, accused said: "It is a case of one will against another." The magistrate asked if accused's wife was present, and the police said she would be unable to come to Court for two or three days. The magistrate remanded Byatt in custody until Saturday.