A WAR FEUD

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 198, 16 May 1919, Page 5

A WAR FEUD

A BLOW ON THE NOSE GUILTY OF COMMON ASSAULT A pica of not guilty was entered by Khristifin Henry Jensen in the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon when charged with assaulting George Basan, so as to cause him actual- bodily harm. There was a second count of assault. The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) presided. Mr. P. S. K. Macassey ap> peared for the Crown and Mr. H. 1\ O'Leary for the accused. Mr. W. Appleton was foreman of thtt jury. Mr. Macassey, in opening, said the fact* in the case were simple. There was some fowl between Jensen and Basan, and on the evening of May i, while Basan was standing in Manners Street, the accused came up and struck him a violent blow, and Basan's nose wns broken. When accused of the assault Jensen said he did not know Basan, but later admitted that ■he did know-him. He said it was the first time he had heard of the assault; Dr. Faiilke, in his evidence, stated that Basan called at his surgery on the evening in question. He was suffering from a cut across the top of the nose on the ' right side, extending down the bone, which was broken. \ The wound was stitched, but there was still somo deformity, whicli would requiro an operation to remedy. The injury could have been caused by a blow 'from a man's closed fist. . ■ George Basan, labourer, eaid he had known the accused ■ for some twelve months. ,Once they • had some jwords about the war. Jensen said that h"e (the witness) should be at the war, and he retorted ..that Jensen should be on the island. On May. 4, a. Sunday, he was standing in Manners Street talking to a friend. He received a blow and .knew nothing further until' he found himself in a chemist's shop. He did not know how he got the blow. He did not see the accused coming along. When questioned by the police as to how he came by his injury he said he had fallen on the footpath. He did-not know whether Jensen nit him or not. ■Raphael Badia Gomez, a wharf labourer, Constable John - Demuth, and Police-Sergeant M'Holm gave evidence fiimilar to that tendered in the Lower Court. . For the defence Mr. O'Leary called the accused, who eaid his name was Henry Khristian Jensen, that ho w.as a seafaring man, and was born at Copenhagen, Denmark. ■ He had been about twelve years in New Zealand. He knew the accused by sight. .There was no quarrel between them, but Basan blamed witness for informing the police when he (Basan) was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for being a roguo and a vagabond. He eaw Basan on the night in question, and Basan eaw him. Aβ witness got near, Basan struck out at him and witness parried with his left and struck Basan with his right hand. He was with his brother, and after he struck Basan -he told his brother that his hand was cut. He went away to the doctor, who attended to his wound. Afterwards, he went home.. He only struck one blow,at Basan. There were four or five men with Basan when the incident occurred. When the policeI sergeant interviewed. him the sergeant. ' mispronounced the name of Basan, and witness said he did not know the man; afterwards he remembered that he knew Basan- and said eo.. He struck Basan in self-deferice. In cross-examination accused admitted thai* he was convicted in 1916 of assault, and he was convioted in September, 1916, bf gambling and fined £2. He was also convicted on two; charges of..breach of the peace and discharged. Re-examined: He\ said-it. was. on account, of the convictions-for. breach of the peace that, he waa'af raid'.to, tell the sergeant all the^facts. , . "' Dr. Ewart gave evidence, as to attending Jensen for a cut over a knuckle on the right hand; one of the wns partially severed! Hβ thought it was improbable that' it. was caused by a blow struck on-the face.' It looked like a wound caused by a sharp knife or instrument. He could not imagine a How on the nose cattsing the wound. Jensen told witness that he did not know whether the wound was caused by striking a man a blow on the nose or by striking a sharp verandah-post. Jensen never suggested that a knife had caused the wound. " > Peter Jensen, labourer, a brother of the accueed, said he was with his brother on tho night in question. Hβ stated that Basan struck at his brother, and the latter retaliated and struck Basan on tho face. He did not see anything in Basan's right-hand. . His "brother went to Dr. Ewart's, and witness went with him. 11l addressing the jury Mr._ O'Leary stressed the point that the accused struck Baaan in self-defence, and e.ug"ested that it was somewhat renmrkablo that although Basan had three or four friends with him when this alleged dastardly assault was committed, none of these friends had. come forward to give evidence. The jury, after a • short retirement, returned a .verdict of guilty on the second count—that is, of common assault. • ■ The prisoner was remanded to Saturday for sentence. >