ATTACK ON WOMAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 56, 8 March 1939, Page 7

ATTACK ON WOMAN

INTRUDER IN HOUSE • MAN BEFORE POLICE COURT [Per Press Association.] AUCKLAND, March 7. A middle-aged woman was the victim of a savage attack by a man who entered her home in Parnell about two o’clock yesterday afternoon. At the time of the assault she was alone in the house, and was attacked as she was about to enter the bathroom. Covered in blood from a wound on the head she managed to struggle to the verandah to seek assistance. According to the story told by a neighbour who went to the woman’s assistance, the victim was alone in her home and had filled the bath. She was in the act of walking along the passage to obtain a towel, when she was surprised by a man who entered by the side door. She was disrobed except for the towel which she hurriedly wrapped around her. The man had in his hand a hammer which it is alleged, he obtained from under the house. With this he is alleged to have struck her a blow on the head. The woman fell to the floor and a struggle ensued. The man. it is alleged, gripped her around the throat with both hands and also biting her finger. The woman managed to free herself from her assailant and went to the verandah, still in the nude. Here she cried for assistance. Her cries were heard by the next-door neighbours, and two women both ran from next door and found the woman covered in blood and suffering from shock. The man alleged to be responsible for the assault entered the house to inquire about the victim’s condition and he remained about the premises until a detective arrived by car. Although seriously hurt, the woman is not thought to be in any danger. This morning, John Henry Chave, labourer, aged 31, was charged in the Police Court that, with intent to do grievous bodily harm to a woman, he did actual bodily harm to her. Detective-Sergeant Walsh asked that the accused be remanded until March 15. “The woman involved in this case is 50, and she was rather seriously injured,” he added. “I would also ask that accused should be medically examined during that interval.” The remand was granted.