MAYOR’S COURT.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2561, 3 May 1871, Page 2

MAYOR’S COURT.

This Day. (Before His Worship the Mayor and John Gillie*, Esq., R. M.) DRUNKENNESS. Charles Wheatley was fined ss. James White was discharged with a caution. CHARGE OF ASSAULT WITH INTENT. Peter Kane was charged, on the information of Donald M Phee, with having, at C'aversham, on the 20th nit., assaulted one Agatha NCPhee with intent, &c. Sergeant Thompson, in stating the circumstances of the case, said the husband of t'm deceased woman was most anxi ais to prosecute the case. The proceedings were undertaken entirely at his request, and it would be necessary to ask for a remand. Mr Barton said ho appeared for the accused, and, if his instruct! ns were correct, the case was one of most extraordinary lunacy. The accused was, and always had been, a very respectable man, and, as their Worships were no doubt aware, was a partner of the prosecutor. He (Mr Bart m) ould not blame Mr M‘Phee for the action he had taken, if lie gave credence to the deceased’s statements. But it woul I be hardly fair to his client if he were to al'ow the remand without making so ne statement of certain circumstances, the truth of which could be ascertained. He thought their Worships, after earing tins.; circumstances, would come to the conclusion that there must have been s me hallucination on the part of the deceas d. Kane had always conducted himself well before, and the parties were friendly. The All Nations Hotel was in a thick neighborhood, and if there had been any altercation or noise, as Airs M‘Phee alleged to have taken place on the 25th ult., it must have been heard outside. The circumstances he was about to relate were true, and, if authenticated by the police, would, he thought, have considerable weight with their Worships. Although the offence with which Kane was charged towk place on the 25th, on the Thursday following Mrs MThee came into town, an I purchased amongst other things a shirt, which Kane now wears, and presented it to him. On the same day she left him in charge of her bar, and on the day following gave him two mattrasscs - one for her husband, and the other for himself—to take to the Peninsula. If he had attempted to violate her on the previous Tuesday, it was very unlikely that she would hare done those th ugs, or allowed him to take charge of her house. The learned ooun el then proc eded to comment at length on the evidence taken yesterday at the coroner’s inquiry, and pointed our, the discrepancies in the various statements made by the deceased. Her l ist written statement he referred to more parparticularly. “On Tuesday night,” she said, “I went bod frightened about Kane using such bad-—. About half-past two I felt something feeling at legs. Thought it was a rat”—according to her statement t) her friend Swain she knew it was Kane—“l shoved my foot and jumped out of bed. He up to me and took me under the two arms and wanted me to Jay with as he done it to me already, I opened my bedroom window and made as much noise ” —this was directly in opposition to what she told Swain ; to him she merely said she resisted Kane, and ultimately got away from him, and that thinking some neighbor had been listening she got frightened—‘ll got and struck a match and got steel and he said he not molest ; logo to my bed. No sooner I was in bed about half an hour he was there again and turned him out and went (;a his bed. Shortly after that I hcqrd the girls singing out.” It was terrible that his client’s life and character should be blasted by th : s matter. He assured him (Mr Barton) most positively that the whole matter was an hallucination'; that he neither directly nor indirectly attempted any harm to the deceased. He thought when the facts were properly investigated, the Bench and the public would come to the conclusion that it was a piinful and unfortunate case of insanity. The present charge must fail; and, at the most, it could only resolve itself into one of indecent assault; so that the accused might be admitted to bail on his own recognisance.

The accused was remanded until Saturday, bail he'm; allowed, himself in a surety of L4O and two sureties of L2() each.