LOST HER TEMPER WHEN USING STICK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18940, 10 December 1929, Page 9

LOST HER TEMPER WHEN USING STICK.

WOMAN FINED FOR ILL-TREATING CHILD,

On a charge of wilfully ill-treating a girl under sixteen, Elizabeth Jane Bergamini appeared in the Magistrate s Court before Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M., this morning.

Mr Twyneham appeared for accused, and Senior-Sergeant Shanahan conducted the case for the police.

Sergeant liodgins said that he interviewed accused, who admitted that she had beaten the child with a stick. In the middle of the beating, the child kicked accused, who then hit the child more than she first intended. Statements were produced from two medical men stating that there were bruises and weals on the child’s body.

To Mr Twyneham: The stick was 2ft 9in long and slightly thicker than a pipe stem. Accused said she had been using it for beating carpets. Miss Cardale said the child had been with the accused for a number of years. Witness saw marks on the girl, who was very small for her age. She would be fourteen in January. Witness saw four marks altogether. There had been a lot of trouble with this family. Mrs. Bergamini had from time to time taken children whom nobody else would take.

To Mr Twyneham: I think she has always done her best for the children. Senior-Sergeant Shanahan said that defendant had four children under her charge when the assault took place. Accused thought she detected the child in a lie, and the thrashing ensued. The matter was considered so bad by the schoolmaster that a doctor was asked to examine the child. Mr Twyneham said that accused gave the child four cuts, the first two over a chair. After the first two cuts the child kicked out, when accused lost her temper and gave the child two further cuts of undue severity. Accused admitted losing her temper. Accused had given a great deal of assistance to the State in the past. The Magistrate said that a child committed to a home of this kind, supposing that there was unfair treatment, had no one to go to. If the punishment was too big, the only intervention was by one of the societies or the State. “The punishment, to my mind, was perhaps unduly severe,” said the Magistrate, in imposing a fine of £3 and costs.