A RAZOR SLASHER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20127, 21 April 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

A RAZOR SLASHER

GAOL FOR OFFENDER MAXIMUM SENTENCE IMPOSED. SYDNEY, March 23. A h; Jaiy lesson was administered to the first razor slasher to com© before a jury this week, when Gordon Barr, found guilty of disfiguring the face of a pretty woman, was given the maximum sentence—live years’ penal servitude. “I wish 1 could give you ten years,” was the judge’s remark. The trial was the outcome of an in cident on New A'ear’s morning, when Betty Carslakc, shielding a woman who had been living with Barr, but who had been knocked about by th« 4 man and left him, openei.l the door to n knocK and found Barr at the door. H© forced his way into the fiat and demanded to see the woman who hui been bring with him. In an effort to save her friend, Bettj Carstake attempted to put Barr out O', the pmce. But he produced a razor an-j ma.ie a savage slash at her face, open ing up the cheek from the left eye t< th© mouth. Alany stitches were necessary to close the wound, and the n ark left has disfigured the woman’s face for life. Giving evidence against Barr, n detective described him as of a low. hideous character, and linked his nam«* with those of women of low repute, on whom, it was stated, he battened. One had divorced him, another had lived with him and kicker! hihi out, and he had then married another young woman, and lived on her immoral earnings. Judge Curlew is said that such men married women of that stamp for only one purpose, and described Barr as on© of the most poisonous and loathsome creatures that existed on the face of the earth. When the jury first returned it added a recommeni-Jation for mercy. Tb« judge was dumbfounded. He demanded the grounds for such w recommendation, and when, after a further retirement, the foreman announced that the prisoner, in their estimation, had received provocation, the judge declaredl that such was not the ease, nor was there any evdence to show anything of the sort. He said that Barr went, anned with a razor, to injure he victim, ijhe had her face stitched, and was marked for life. And when he saw that the maximum penalty was five years under the sectior of th© charge, he expressed keen regre’ that he could not pass sentence of tei. years’ penal servitude. Amazing scenes occurred when the verdict was announced. Women shrieked l , struggled and screamed, ami had to be ejected by the police, while Barr’s wife hurled defiance at the detective as he stood in the box Barr wept in the dock. Air Camphin, S.M., set a precedent for magistrates when. at Newtown Court, the same day that Barr was given five years, he announced that he would treat all crimes committed by persons in possession of razors and revolvers as aggravated offences and impose severe penalties. He made a start in the case of a young man named Samuel Barker (24), a fell monger, who, charged with assaulting a constable, admitted having had two razors in his pocket at the time. “In view of the conditions now r existing in Sydney, 1 consider it my duty to impose an exemplary penalty,*’ ‘said the magistrate, in sentencing Barker to six months’ gaol on the assault charge. Evidence was to the effect that BarHvcr had been arrested at a local pictuie theatre, where he was using filthy [ano threatening language. On the I Way to the station he was trying to get his 1 and into a side pocket, in winch the razors were found later. Barker said they were for a barber, pie hnd a long list of convictions, including many for assaulting the pol-