GUARDS OFFICER FINED

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19457, 22 December 1934, Page 23 (Supplement)

GUARDS OFFICER FINED

ASSAULT ON POLICEMAN. A KICK ora THE WRIST. (From a Correspondent.) LONDON, November 1. Lieutenant James Knox Mathew, 28, of tho Irish Guards, was .lined £2 at Westminster Police Court, for assaulting P.C. Green by kicking him on the right wrist while in the execution of his duty. He was ordered to pay five guineas costs. “The various mitigating circumstances in this case,” said Lhc .Magistrate (Mr Powell), "will, I am sure, be taken into consideration by .any people who hereafter may consider tiie matter." Giving evidence, Lieutenant Mathew said he had been in the Irish Guards for over eight years. Mr Norman Birkett, K.C. (defending) :Is this the ill’st occasion on which any charge of any kind has been brought against you?—lt is. Referring to Hie night on which l lie alleged offence was committed,* accused said he had had some cocktails at a private house. Resented Being Touched. Did you struggle, or anything of that kind?—l did. I resented- the police officer touching me. Did you at any time that night deliberately kick the constable? —No. So far as the incidents of that night are concerned, do you desire to apologise to the officer fully and completely?—l do. Assuming that there was a kick which reached the constable’s wrist, was there at any time in your mind the deliberate desire to do it? —None whatsoever. Mr Raymond Harvey de Montmorency, who said that lie was Lieutenant’s housemaster at Eton, said the oflicer bore an exemplary character all the time he was in his house. Major Terence Nugent, of the Irish Guards, said Lieutenant Mathew’s character had been exemplary in every way. Mr Birkett: Have you authority to say that if the magistrate desires it the. Colonel-Commanding would come here today? —Yes. If a conviction by a civil power is registered against an officer in the courts what effect has that upon his career? —It would certainly have a very serious effect. A civil conviction of any sort would very probably be taken by the authorities as terminating his career. Mr Birkett said- that at the last hearing the magistrate found . that Lieutenant Mathew had had some drink, and he (Mr Birkett) submitted that that was really an important factor, because lie was excited and beyond control. No Class Distinctions. Mr Powell said that the case for the prosecution was proved, and the only question for him to decide was what should bo done. Lieutenant Mathew was a man of exemplary character who was highly esteemed in his regiment, and ’lie should be very sorry indeed if anything that happened In that court were unduly to affect his career. "But I do feel," said Mr Powell, "and I fe'el it strongly, the fact that 1 have to deal with other persons In humble circumstances, and I have to inflict fines and punishment upon them for similar conduct under .similar circumstances. I feel, therefore, that I cannot myself distinguish between such people in a superior social position.”