Brawl In Public Bar.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 44, 7 May 1948, Page 5

Brawl In Public Bar.

Maori With Knife Starts Rough House When Alfred Gilbert Raymond, seaman, walked into the public bar. of a Whakatane Hotel on March 17 last, all he wanted was to have a few quiet drinks. He didn’t expect to be beaten up by two men he had never met and with whom he had no quarrel. But it happened. Like this: . It was just before closing time when Tom Wahaponga Kingi picked up a glass off the bar and hurled it through a window. Things got tense. The barman told Kingi his drinking was over for the day.

Kingi resented that. Dragged out a nasty-looking hunting knife. Told the barman he’d cut his adjectival throat.

Raymond was no more interested in the proceedings than anyone else. He was talking to another of the Maori customers at the bar. when Kingi turned on him, demanding, “Why won’t you be sociable with the Maoris?” Without waiting for an answer, he slammed over a haymaker that floored Raymond, then kicked him for good measure. Jimmy. Ratahi didn’t see why Kingi should have all the fun, so he took a swing at Raymond, too. Sequel: Kingi is doing 14 days’ hard, with Ratahi for a work-mate Tor the first seven. Mr E. L. Walton, S.M., fixed those penalties for the assault charges when he heard the :story presented by Police Sergeant E. D. Fraser in the *Magistrate’s Court at Whakatane on Tuesday. The knife-brandishing episode cost Kingi a conviction and a fine of £3, costs 10/-, for behaving in a threatening manner in a public place and, for wilfully damaging the window, he was fined £2, costs 10/-, and ordered to pay the cost of the damage, £l/5/-.