MAGISTERIAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1541, 25 April 1887, Page 3

MAGISTERIAL

ASHBU ETON— MONDAY. (BeforoMrH. C S B'fUeley it'M.) NEGLEOTED CHILDREN. Two little bojs nimcd Ruddick were brought, up charged with having do moan* of subsistence. Their father was m gaol serving a long term of imprisonment, and their mother was dead, while an elder brother, who had been maintaining them for some months past, found it hard enough to support himself. The boja were committed to Burnham till they eltained the age of 15 years, and to be brought up m the tenets' of tha Church of England. DRUNKENNESS. A first offender who was arrested on Saturdiiy ni&ht, and who became bo ill m the lock-up last ovening that a medical man had to be sent for, was fined 5s and coats, and ordered to pay expenses. UNREGISTERED DoQS. W. Porter was charged on the information of B. Bugheß, collector for the Hampstead Town Board, with having kept an unregistered dog of a greater age 'han cix months. After evidence had been taken, the case was dismissed, OATTLB AT LAKGB. John Hepburn, charged with haying: allowed two cows to wander at large, waß ' fined 7b 6d a head and coats ; W. Collins, one cow, 7a 6d ; George Kidd, two cows, 7s 6d a head ; E, 0. Monson, one horse, 7s 6d. G. Adatnß was charged with having! tethered a cow bo that it trespassed on the adjoining roadway. The defendant j proved that the date set forth m the information was a wrong one, and the case was dismissed. Gk Andrews, for whom Mr CuthberV son appeared to admit the '£f u>oo L wan Bimllarly charged and fined 10) and cos's. Mrs Hainea was charged with allowing tbreo oowa to wander at large. The defendant was fined 10* a head for two uf the cows, the charge as to the oth^r was dismissed because it was not known that the defendant was the owner. Joseph Ward, for having allowed one cow to be at large, was fined 12a 6d and coats. S. W. Alcorn was oharged with having permitted two head of cattle to greze m a public place. The case was dismissed aa no oflenoe was proved. Robert Mercer was oharged with having allowed two cattle to graze at large m the Bolt road, and was Sued 7s 6d a head and ooitn. A NUISANCE, Adam Stevemoo waa charged with behaving m an offensive manner to per* eons on the railway Btatlon at Mount Somers. — Mr Cay gill appeared for the defendant, and m pleading guiKy a«(d that the man'jj employer cleared oat without pay kg him, and the defendant " drowning hla Borrow In drink" the result waa that he had aoted as he would not have done h»d he been sober. Under the clronmstancea Mr Oaygiil aaked for the osae to be dealt with leniently. — It appeared that tbe dofendanfc had made ÜBB of Bhcckiogly obacene language and that at the time there were hdieß m the vicinity.— The witnesses agreed tbat the defendant's oondtut had hitherto baen exemplary. — A h'no of £5 and coatp, In default one month's imprisonment, was Inflicted. A YOUTHPDL HOUSEBBEAKSB. Thomas Mahoney a bo/ nine years of age was charged with breaking into the bouse of James Harkueaß, at Allenton, and stealing therefrom a purca and £1 4i Gd m money. — In view of tbe extreme youth of the acoutwd the charge was reduced to one of simple larcsay only bo tbat the boy might, if found neoessary, be dealt with under tho ludmtrial Sohools Aot. The accused pleaded guilty. he police said there bad been aereral previous oomplainta against the boy although the parents were most honeit and respectable people though the mo; her waa bedridden.— The accused was committed to Nelson t'U he attained the age of 15 yeara and to be brought up m the Roman Catholio religion, a proviso being made that-. <f found advisable tbe parents should have the opportunity of licensing him out, A QUEER CASEJohn Moorhead was charged with having assaulted George Boilings and lira fiellings at Trevorton, on April 19th. Mr Purnell appeared for the accused, who pleaded not guiltj. Constablo Smart said that on April 19th, m consequence of a complaint made to him, he went to Hellipgs' house, where he found Rollings with a cut about an inch long on the side of his head, and his face, much bruised; Mrs Hellings had a bruise under tho eyebrow. Witness arrested the accused on a charge of assault. Next morning witness sow a quantity of ' blood on a tomahawk and a piece of wood m the lean-to. When Moorhead was arrested he said that Hellings had tried to rob bim. Both of the Hellinpa were drunk By Mr Purnell : Moorhead was sober, although he had had some drink. Wit* nesß would not swear that the blood on the tomahawk was human blood Mrs Hollings was not of good character. Both she and her husband had been locked up for drunkenness. By the Bench : The wound on Hollings bead was euch as a tomahawk would make if he bad fallen on it. Hellings had two black eyes. The woman's injuries were not of a severe character In reply to Mr Purnell the witness said he was of opinion tbat tbe accused bad used the tomahawk, but that probablj m a scuffle Hellings had fallen on it. George Hellings said that he saw the accused last week m tha Somerset Hotel. After they had had a few drinka m company witness invited accused home to tea. They were both sob.ar, bat m the evening the accused sent witness's wife for a bottle of brandy. Some time after the accused, without provocation, knocked witness down and bit him over the head with the chair. The aeons 9d then knocked witness out of the house and locked the door. After being locked out for about ten minutes witness broke the door open and got m again. Moorhen d gave witness's wife £1 to get the bottle of brandy. He wanted witness's wife to keep the change but she refused. Witness waa not drunk, — By Mr Parnell : Witness had known the accused for about eight or nine years, but he had never invited him to hla house before. When aeoused waa m the hotel drinking with witness he t^ok a number of notes 'cut of hla pooket and It was after this tbat the sooussd waa Invited to witness* house. Witness and hla wife had not to press him very much to 00-ne. Moorhoad did not want to leave witness's house while be was there. Witness did not make any attempt to take the money from aocused, nor did he make a daah at hia pooket. During the acuffld witness did not hit the accused. When witnesa broke m after beiug looked ont his wife wa« m the badroom and Moorhead In the kitchen.— Amelia Hellinga, wife of the laat witness, deposed to going into the Someraot hotel with her husband to cjet a drink, when tbe acoaaed came m and shouted for them. She had never seen the accused previously. She generally corroborated her husband's evidence. With regard to the a«saulf, abe aaid that the acousod began to knock her hasbani about. He got him down on the floor and beat him about tbe hoad with a strap j Ho then attaoked her husbind with « chair. When she saw blood running aha called out to Mo3rli9ad to leave her husband alone. The accused thon left her husband and assau'ted her. — By Mr Purnell t Witnesa bad two drinks In tbe Somerae and tools home one In & bottle, Witqeii flld. not tefl the aocueed

1 that she had deduoted a shilling for a drink frr-m the note given to her to gel the brandy. The aoiueed did not want t" leave the houoej and waa not stopped dotrg so by wilna'B's husband. — A dau. ; h'' r nf the con?phiinant, ten yoara of age, iavo evideuca of the oß»auU. The c .ild who appeared to be intel'fgent repeated her Btory, however, In % glib way, revy much after the manner of a lesson, and m rcplj to Vh?i Ms^iatrftto's euqolr'O', aho said that her mother bad repeated to her several timeß what she *houM Hay Mrs James and her husband gave ert-dr-nco to tho effect that there wa« a disturbance at Hellinge bonne, nnd that flellinga himself was going about covered with b'ood outside the house This vvaß tho caEe for tho complainants Mr Purnell briefly opened for the defence, and called John Moorliead, the man accused. Moorhead'a evidence was very difficult to follow, his utterance waa very thick, and Ih'b general appaarancc that of a man rather the worse for liquor. His statement, however, was to the following efEect: — On Tuosday, the 19(h, ho met Hellincs and bis wife ia the S tneiset Hotel. Hellings he knew by sight, but his wifo not at all. He was introduced to. them by n man who was with him, and Mrs Hellings asked him to "shout." This he di I, and m doing so exposed about £13 m notes he had m his possession. When they got outside the hotel both the Hellings pressed him to go with them to their hsuse, and although he did not wish to go they would take no refusnl. When 1 they arrived at Hellinga house more beer was offered him, but he would not 1 take any because he began to get suspicious they wanted to make him dmnk. Ultimately Mrs Hellioge got £1 from witneßß to get a bottle of brandy, and after about two hours absence she came back the worse for liquor and not having the right change. Witnesa merely tasted the liquor, but Hellinga and his wife got very drunk on it, Some relations of the HelJinge, who had been m there assisting to drink thn brandy, wont home and witness wanted to go also. Witneß* had previously wanted to go but Bettings )>ad put him off and would not tell him where his hor#e was. On the la&t occasion when be said be wanted to go Hellinga said ho was going to have some of his money first and made a ana eh at wltnesa'a pocket. Witness knocked him down. H'lliugs made three attempts to get at witness's pocket, but did not strike witness. Witness admitted striking Sellings with the chair, bub Bald it was m consequence of the determined effort made to rob him He put Hellioga ont but he did not lock the door. He did not strike Mrs Hellinga. — This was the c»ee There waa. a cross action against Helllngs for assaulting Moorhead. Mr Furnell addressed the Court sabmltting that it was clear Moorbead bad been deooyed to the house for the purpose of being robbed and he was justified Ia resiatance, though perhaps he had employed more violence than waa neoessary. Ha submitted there was no motive for Moorhead, who was not a man of prepossessing manners, to go to Hellings' house and stay there but he considered a distinct motive had been* shown for the Hellings to get him there. — The Magistrate said tbat both of the parties had a very bad record. There waß no motive for Moorhead committing an uoprov ked assault or acting aa he did unless m defence of his property. The Bench was of opinion that he had been inveigled down to Hellinga, and tha complainants must have had a motive for it. Moor* head waß not an attractive person, and there was no doubt hia foolish actiou m flashing about his money had been tho cause of his being drawn into the affair. The Beltings' house had not a good name, Borne of the witnesses saying that there was often leer there, although tbe Hellings had not been m the hands of the police aa often as Moorhead . Th« ojne wou'd bo dismissed. —Mr ParceH decided to withdraw the information laid by Moorhead agaimt Hellinge. ILLEGAL RESCUE. Thomas Holmeß was charged with having illegally rescued cattle. — Mr Caygill appeared for the Poundkeeper, and Mr Purnell for the defendant.— Evidence having been taken at length a fine of £3 and conte w*b Irflioted. The Ooutt then rose.