"HELLO, KID!"

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 233, 2 October 1928, Page 8

"HELLO, KID!"

MILITE'S MISTAKE.

SMACKED WOMAN IN STREET. HIS HAND SLIPPED. "I thought I knew one of the ladies, and I tapped her on the shoulder and said, 'Hello, kid/ then my hand slipped." This was the explanation offered at the Police Court this morning by Charles John Milne, a middle-aged man, who limped into the dock on a stick to plead not guilty to a charge of assaulting a woman in Karangahape Road yesterday afternoon. But two women who gave evidence told a different story. Complainant said she was leaving a draper's shop at 2.30 p.m. when accused smacked her on the back and then looked at her in a cheeky manner. Milne: I have a bad leg, you know Might I not have slipped and touched you accidentally as I stumbled? —No. it was deliberate. A companion of complainant said that when Milne smacked her friend he said: "It's good to see a nice figure." Constable Wilson, who arrested Milne, stated that on the way to the police station accused asked complainant if it was too late to apologise. He added that be tapped her 011 the shoulder and said: "Hello, kid." thinking it was a woman he knew. Milne was not quite sober. In a statement made from the dock, Millie said he was crossing Pitt Street when he thought he recognised a woman whom lie tapped 011 the back with the remark, "Hello, kid." However, he made a mistake. "I placed my hand on her shoulder and then my hand slipped," said Milne. "Don't do that sort of thing again," said Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., in fining Milne £2 or seven days' imprisonment.