CHILD LEFT ON DOORSTEP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18014, 26 November 1926, Page 7

CHILD LEFT ON DOORSTEP.

WOMAN ADMITS ABANDONING IT. TRAGIC STORY TOLD IN COURT TO-DAY. The little mystery which confronted the authorities of the Salvation Army Maternity Home, Bealey Avenue, when they found, on the night of November 16, an abandoned baby on the doorstep of the home was cleared up in the Magistrate’s Court to-day. A woman aged thirty-six pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully abandoning her baby on November 16. The case had tragic features and the Court decided that the name should be suppressed. Messrs F. H. Christian and W. E. Simes, J.P.’s. were on the bench. Chief Detective Gibson prosecuted and Mr Batchelor appeared for accused. Ronald Leslie May, employed by Pope’s Motors, said he drove a car between Christchurch and Kaikoura. At Kaikoura he met any passengers transferring from Blenheim. He remembered taking over the accused at Kaikoura. She had only a wicker basket for luggage and a baby. She asked to be put down at Malley’s Hotel in Bealey Avenue. It would be between five and six o’clock when she went there. Senior Sergeant J. P. Clarkson, of Blenheim, said that he went to Canvastown on November 22, where he interviewed accused. In her statement she. said that she was a married woman living apart from her husband. The baby was born in a motor-car be tween Wharenui and Nelson when she was on her way to the Wairau maternity hospital. She went from the Wairau hospital to Canvastown, where she secured employment in the hotel there. On November 16 she left for Christchurch and after leaving the baby at the Salvation Army Plome she returned to Blenheim.

The matron of the Salvation Army Maternity Home, Bealey Avenue, said that the baby, which was about a month old, was found in a basket on the doorstep of the home about 9 p.m. on November 16. It was a small baby, not very well nourished. On the baby’s breast was pinned an envelope upon which was written: —*' Phyllis Brown—please keep baby until I call for her.” The baby was well wrapped up and there were some clothes in the basket. It was raining that night and the child was damp when found.

Detective J. Thompson said he was present last night at an interview between accused and her father. The woman told her father that her husband was the father of the child. She said that she had been with her husband in the North Island between last Christmas and New Year. She had four other children, three of which were in homes, the fourth being kept by relatives.

In reply to a question from Mr Batchelor; witness said that he knew* accused’s family very well, and he knew that accused had been in the mental hospital on three occasions following the birth of children.

My Batchelor entered a plea of guilty and the bench committed accused to the Supreme Court for sentence.

Mr Batchelor, in applying for an order for suppression of accused’s name, described the case as “ one of life's tragedies.” He thought that the name should be suppressed. After a consultation, the bench announced that it viewed the case as a serious one and thought the reference to mental hospitals would be sufficient to clear accused.

Mr Batchelor: She will appear for sentence in a few days. Would you not consider suppressing the name until accused goes to the Supreme Court, when the Judge will be placed in possession of facts which I am not able to place before you this morning? This woman s employer in leaving her position open for a few days, and it is possible that the publication of her name might prejudice her employment. The Bench: Very well, the name is suppressed. It was decided that in the meantime the woman should remain in the Salvation Army Home.