AFTER A GAME OF HOUSEY-HOUSEY

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17738, 7 January 1926, Page 7

AFTER A GAME OF HOUSEY-HOUSEY

WOMAN ASSAULTED ON BRIGHTON BEACH

YOUNG MAN FINED ON SEVERAL COUNTS

To his Worship the Magistrate. This is to certify that I now wish to withdraw the charge of assault made by me against James Cochrane. After due consideration. 1 am now satisfied that he had no criminal intent, and that the remarks passed may not have been intended to refer to me.—Yours respectfully, Emma Joyce. This communication which was read at the Magistrate’s Court this morning helped to complicate the case in which James Cochrane, aged twenty-nine, was charged with having assaulted Emma Joyce at New Brighton on the evening of January 4, by seizing her by the shoulders. The incident took place after a big game of “Housey-Housey” had been held on the beach. The defendant, who was represented by Mr Sargent, pleaded not guilty. Emma Joyce, a single woman, said that on Monday evening she was walking along the Esplanade at New Brighton with her married sister, Mrs Clarkson. Two men, one of whom was the defendant, came along to them and asked them to come for a ride in a motorcar. They refused and then Cochrane caught her by the shoulders and tried to pull her to the car. Her sister seized her by the arm and said to Cochrane: “You leave my sister alone!” She then said: “How dare you molest two respectable girls, and me a married woman.”

One of the men replied: “It’s all right, aunty. We don’t want you.” Mrs Clarkson told the men to move away and one of them said to his friend: “Look out, she’ll give you a black eye.” The witness and her sister then walked over to an ice-cream shop, but the men followed them there, and asked them to have some ice-cream. “Don’t be silly girls,” said one man. “You’ll like some chocolates.” The men then told them they should be in bed, and made insinuating remarks about going home to bed in the car. The witness and her sister then went over to the Pier Hall and Constable Hislop arrested Cochrane. The other man and a companion made off. Mr Sargent: There were a lot of games on and everybody was happy? One of the men paid for you at the “Housey-Housey” game?—Yes. Things are a little unorthodox down at New Brighton?—l don’t know. I’m seldom down there. Why did you sign that letter?— Men came to me with it written out and said that the case would be a terrible blow to Cochrane’s aged parents, so I signed it. Mabel Clarkson, sister of the complainant, said that after the game of “ Housey-Housey ” one of the men came near her and her sister and said, “ These are the two I was telling you about.” “ The men invited us to go for a motor ride arid we resented that very much,” said the witness. One of them said, “Look out, she’ll give you a black eye,” and I replied “ Yes, I will.” “ The man then said, * Come out on the road and I’ll fight yon for a quid.’ One of them then said, * Come on home in the car with us to bed.’ ” Mr Sargent: You know your sister signed that letter?—Yes, she was frightened into it. Whaf could a girl do against two men? Mr Sargent’s application to have the case dismissed at this stage was refused. The defendant in his evidence said that he had come up from Ashburton and had a bit of a gathering with his friends. He had had liquor on the day of the incident. After the game on the beach he followed his friend Jones and asked him for some money. He intended to borrow a pound from him, and cried out to him, “ I’ll fight you for a pound.” He might possibly have touched Miss Joyce when he said that. He and Halden, another friend, went over to the ice-cream shop and the girls were there. He was annoyed with Jones because he had gone away, and when Jones came into the shop the witness told him to get awav home. The Magistrate: Did you put your hand on her?—l may have done so, but I was not the man who insulted her.

The Magistrate: Who asked her to sign that letter?—l don’t know, but I had asked m.v brother to help me. Edward Stephen Jones, who was with Cochrane when the incident took place, said that Holden and the girls saemed to have been friendly at the game, and he thought things were all right between them all. The game was the rowdiest he had even seen on the beach.

Magistrate said the case had been complicated by the complainant’s letter. He was satisfied, however, that an assault had been committed. “This,” he said, “ is a matter which affects the public, and the police were certainly justified in taking the matter up. The complainant's evidence mfist be accepted. The explanation of the incident was that Cochrane had had too much liquor. His brain was. fogged and but for that the incident would probably not have occurred. It is a matter for regret to see a man in his position before the Court.” In addressing the Court on the question of penalty Mr Sargent said that Cochrane was a member of a respectable family and felt his position keenly.

A fine of 40s was imposed and the defendant was ordered to pay 27s witnesses’ expenses. For leaving his motor car unlighted he was fined 20s, and for having no license to drive 10s.