YOUNG GIRL SENTENCED

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22321, 12 April 1944, Page 2

YOUNG GIRL SENTENCED

TWO YEARS IN BORSTAL As a sequel to an arrest by Constable E. J. O’Mahony at Frankton shortly after 1 o’clock this morning Harata Ruha, aged 17, kitchenmaid, of Putaruru, appeared before Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Hamilton, this morning on a charge of being idle and disorderly with insufficient lawful means of support. Accused entered a plea of not guilty. The prosecution was conducted by Senior-Sergeant A. G. McHugh. Senior-Sergeant McHugh said that accused had appeared before the Court on April 3, when the case had been adjourned sine die on condition that she secured employment with a market gardener. However, she remained in that employmert for only half a day. In the early hours of this morning she was discovered by Constable O’Mahony sleeping in a baled haystack in Frankton. It was the same haystack that was mentioned in the Court the previous day. Senior-Sergeant McHugh said that this haystack had become a source of annoyance to the police, for it was a favourite haunt of visiting servicemen and Maori men and women. In the case of accused she had been leading an immoral life and it was difficult to know what to do with her. The magistrate entered a conviction and ordered that accused should be detained in a Borstal institution for a period not exceeding two years.