A PAINFUL CASE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10769, 15 May 1913, Page 3

A PAINFUL CASE.

FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL INCH A RGE OF HOUSE. LACK OF PARENTAL CONTROL. REMARKS BY MR JUSTICE DENNISTON. A case which presented unusual features was heard at the Supreme Court this morning, and, during the course of it, his Honor Mr Justice Denniston, made some remarks on the subject of parental control, and on a deficiency in a statute intended for the protection of young girls. _ The case was one in which a welldressed, bright-looking boy of sixteen, named Cecil Smither, was charged with having committed a criminal offence on a girl of fourteen. The evidence disclosed that the girl's mother was dead, and her father had gone away to Auckland, leaving her alone in the house with three younger children to look after. He had made temporary arrangements with the. butcher and baker to provide them with food. In the course of the evidence the boy admitted the offence, and said that he thought the girl was over sixteen. He had made her acquaintance promiscuously in the street one night. His Honor: And did you think of no other deterrent but the penalty which might be incurred in law? Accused: No. Mr Leathern (counsel for accused): This case discloses a deplorable state of morals. His Honor, in addressing the jury, said that the case was a most painful one, and w r as an illustration of the painful state of affairs the law had brought about. It was a deplorable state of things. It was largely due to absence of parental control that such a degrading state of affairs obtained. This, young roan was falling back on the protection afforded by the clause in thp A«t which made it possible for a man accused of this offence to escape punishment, if he could prove to the satisfaction of the jury that he had been of opinion that the girl was over •^sixteen.. The introduction of this \ clause into the statute bore out the (excuse. Thp jury, after retirement, found the prisoner guilty.