VIOLENT ASSAULT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 2, 4 January 1939, Page 5

VIOLENT ASSAULT

TAXI-DRIVER HURT

INCIDENT AT ROTORUA

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

ROTORUA, January 2.

Violently assaulted by a Maori passenger, a Rotorua taxi-driver, Mr. William Norton, had a fortunate escape from serious injury early on Saturday morning.

It is stated that Mr. Morton was approached about 1.15 a.m. by a Maori, who wanted to be taken towards, Ngapuna. When the taxi arrived in this vicinity the passenger stated that he had been mistaken, and asked the driver to return.

■ About a quarter of a mile from Rotorua the driver was asked to stop the car, and as he did so he received a heavy blow on the head. _ However, he had enough strength to strike his assailant with his fist as the Maori was attempting to get out of the back seat, but realising that he was not in a condition to again tackle his assailant, he went along the road towards a service station for assistance. On the way he was found in a dazed condition by two men and. was taken to the police station. He was later admitted to the Rotorua Public Hospital for treatment of a fairly severe gash on the head.

When Constable G. W. Kilgour arrived at the scene of the assault a few moments after the incident the Maori had disappeared, but lying alongside the car was a piece of iron piping about 18in in length. Although he received a fairly deep gash on the head, Mr. Norton was sufficiently recovered to be discharged from the hospital on Sunday. Detective A. J. White, of Hamilton, is investigating.