ALLEGED CRUELTY TO A CHILD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4573, 18 February 1893, Page 3

ALLEGED CRUELTY TO A CHILD.

The Heathcote Valley Case. The following did not appear last night:— Eliza Savage, continued : She was not able to go and see the boy when He was in the Hospital. The reason why she did not Bend . him to the Heathoote; school was because she did hot like one of the teachers there. She intended sending him to the Normal' School by train when he : recovered from his illness. She had been losing money every day at the Heathcote Valley,, and she kept the boy at the hotel : away from school because he was useful about the house. The police came to enquire about the boy when she was living at the White Horse Hotel. Mre Guide never complained to defendant , about the way she treated the boy. Mrs Barker on one occasion complained to defendant about beatiag the children. The eldest boy, aged fourteen, had since left defendant's house. Remembered ChiefDetective O'Connor coming to the White : Horse Hotel. On that occasion defendant. I assaulted the detestive, but she did not ■ assault Constable Allen. She had a hot ; temper, and did nob remember what Bho ; said to the police. i Fanny Reynolds, aged sixteen, said defendant was her mother. The boys, : including Roland, were allowed to go out and play together at the Heathcote Valley, , When Roland got up in the morning he -; had to fetoh in some wood and coal. He | very seldom brought the wood and coal jin a bucket. He used to scrub oat the bar and room and kitchen occasionally. He ■; never complained to witness of being ■ unable to do his work. Witness did not i remember him complaining about bis ' hands being sore. On one occasion he told ; witness that his hands were swollen. The : clothes produced belonged to Roland, i Never knew her mother to hit him with ■; the poker. Had seen her beating him with ja. small strap. . Witness generally gave . Roland his food. Sometimes she gave him I fried meat and potatoes and bread and j milk for breakfast. He never complained to witness that he did not like bread and milk* Whenever he asked for more food witness gave it to him. At dinner and | tea he always had plenty of food given to j him. Sometimes lie threw his food behind ; the cupboard, in the ash-pan, and under j the mat in the kitchen. - | To Mr Wardell : Roland never had his | mealß by himself. : . * ; Cross-examined : Witness saw her mother I hit Roland once with a willow-stick. He • very seldom had fried meat and potatoes j for breakfast. , / | To Mr Wardell :' Witness had seen ( Roland scrubbing out the bar andeardj room once or twice. } Alma Reynolds,, sister of the last witness, I said Roland always had the same food as \ the others at his meals. He never com- | plained to witness that he was not getting 'enough food, or that his fingers pained , him.. ■ . , j At 5.45 p.m. Mr Kippenberger applied ! for an adjournment till "the next morning. I Mr Martin said he would like to call witnesses to give rebutting evidence. .. After some discussion, he called Constable Fie wellen^ who stated, that when the boy ■ Roland Savage was ;afe S t Albans his hands j were in a worse condition than when he i was in the hospital. Cross-examined: The boy made acorn! plaint to witnoßO about his nands. ' j Mrs Guise said that when defendant ! was living at the White Horse Hotel : witness heard children crying in the yard. Witness looked over the fence, and saw defendant beating two miserably clad: ; children. j Mrs Barker, who resided next door to the ; White Horse Hotel, gave evidence. Wit- ' ness saw defendant beating the children, j who were very obedient. j At 5.55 p.m. the case was adjourned till. 9.30 a.m. to-day. :

THIS DAY. The heating was resumed at the Christchurch Resident Magistrate's Court at 9.40 [ this morning, before Messrs H. S. Wardell, ; E.M., and J. Connal, J.P. I Mr Kippenberger called John Joyce, i M.H.E., who said that when defendant was ! living at the White Horse hotel he went \ there to lunch. The children were very ; badly behaved. Defendant would some--1 times lose her temper with the children, but she always gave them plenty of food. Mr Kippenberger did. not call any further evidence, but stated that several ! persons, if called, would corroborate Mr ' Joyce's evidence. i This was the case for the defence. Mr Wardell, in delivering judgment, ! said the case was a very grave one, and a : serious responsibility was attached to the Bench. The evidence showed very clearly ttiat the defendant had acted towards the child in such a manner as to bring herself within the terms of the Statute. In reviewing the evidence, hia Worship stated that the relations of defendant &nd the child had materially altered since the' I child returned from his holiday at Kaiapoi. ! From that time a great change had taken place, and that change led to his being treated in an exceptional way. He referred to the evidence of Doctors Meares and Murray- Aynsley, whioh showed clearly that, in the matter of feeding, there had been neglect. Defendant's daughters had contradicted the boy's evidence to I a certain extent, but there was enough .! left to convince him that the .child bad been badly ill-treated. The decision of the Court would be that defendant should be sentenced to one calendar! ! month's imprisonment without hard ! labour. •■ . ' Mr Kippenberger asked the Bench to make the sentence one month and one day ' to enable him to appeal. i Mr Wardell said he understood that the case was to be dealt with summarily. He ■ thought it might be an arbitrary act on i hia part not to give defendant an oppor.l tunity to appeal, and he would make the • sentence two months. ■ Mr Kippenberger objected strongly to this; and "after some farther discussion the Bench retired to consider the matter. j In a few minutes the Bench returned

and stated that they had decided to make the sentence five weeks. '. .;'.;'" The accused was ordered to find sureties herself in £75, and two sureties "of £f& i each.