RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 4257, 18 October 1876, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Wednesday, October 18. (Before T. A. Mansford, Esq., R.M.)

John Burt v. James Hume.—Claim LIOO, damages for assault alleged to have been committed or caused to be committed by defendant on plaintiff in the Dunedin Asylum on November 6, 1875, and February 11, 1876. Mr E. Cook for plaintiff; Mr A. Bathgate for defendant.—Mr Cook, in opening the case, said plaintiff was at the time the assaults were committed a patient in the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum, of which defendant is superintendent. Counsel would put plaintiff into the box to prove that he had been assaulted on the days mentioned in the plaint. His Worship : Plaintiff will give evidence as to assaults, he being a lunatic at the time of their alleged committal’-Mr Cook : Decidedly; a lunatic may perhaps not be able to remember correctly such an occurrence as a conversation, but surely he would have a distinct recollection of assaults being committed on him by which he suffered great bodily pain. Besides, there was nothing to prove that plaintiff was a lunatic at the time he was confined in the Asylum.— His Worship : I believe that ill-usage of patients may have occurred in asylums at Home, but I do not think they ever occurred here. Can you not prove the alleged assaults by other evidence than that of plaintiff alone ? Mr Cook : I cannot produce evidence on the part of servants in the Asylum against defendant, who is their employer.—His Worship: ft That is perhaps not possible, but then it appears to me that you must prove two things—first, that plaintiff was of sound mind wheu the alleged assaults were committed, so that he can give reliable evidence concerning them ; second, that plaintiff is of sound mind when giving his evidence.—Mr Cook : I shall be able to prove that violence was committed ; a man can surely remember, even if insane, that injuries have been inflicted on him. There is, again, no imputation of lunacy in the case. Plaintiff was brought up by the police at an inferior Court and sent to the Asylum as insane, but there is nothing to show that an examination of him was first held by two medical men.—His Worship: I do not know where yeu take your view from. I have had frequently to forward men afflicted with insanity to the Asylum, but a strict inquiry has always been previously held. The cases of Home asylums and our Asylum are not analogous; there the private asjdums have a direct interest in keeping patients within their walls —here the Asylum has a direct interest in keeping them out,—Mr Cook : Well, your Worship, 1 shall call plaintiff to prora that

on the day first mentioned he was thrust into an opon yard, and afterwards forood into a bath of filthy wator. He naturally objected, but the outcome of his objection was that he was seised by the throat, pressed into the bath, and his head bumped against the side of the bath, inflicting severe injuries and causing him great pain. Ou February 11th plaintiff was put in a room called the “ condemned cell ” for forty-eight hours, was there stripped almost naked, his wrists handcuffed behind him, and his arms strapped behind his back. In addition to this ill-treatment, he was put on a straw bed, fed with a spoon, and drenched with physio. Plaintiff will also depose that the defendant Hume assisted in this course of treatment, and that others committed the acts with him.—Plaintiff was examined at considerable length. He said that defendant handcuffed him, fastening his arms behind his back, and then put Turn into a ward. As the irons were notloosened, he had to lie ■ on his face. The only covering on his bed was a piece of canvas. In the .afternoon witness asked defendant to loosen the strap on his left aim. Defendant replied, “ You must grin and bear it," and went away laughing.—Mr Cook; When was the strap taken off? Witness : Yon are not examining me fully. I told you of actions, and yon are not examining me about them. It looks as though you wished them passed over, instead of properly bringing the case before the public. The handcuff and strap were taken off me on the Sunday following at ten o’clock. The straps were on me while the physic was operating. There were no means of communicating with the officers of the institution. I saw no doctor during J:he time I was so confined. I left the Asylum on April 20. The doses of physic which were given to me were enough to kill a horse. Alter being examined by two persons, who gave a hastilydrawn certificate, and admitted into the Asylum, I was never examined by any medical man, but was left there to rot or die. M‘Donald, one of the warders, said he had broken harder hearts than mine.—His Worship having requested Mr Bathgate not to put'any questions which would have a tendency to irritate, defendant was crossexamined as follows;—I went to the Asylom concert on the evening I was admitted. I was accused of being a horse-stealer, a forger, and a very great rogue. The man that took me to the Asylom said defendant was to receive L 5,000 with me. I attended the Sabbath service. After it was over defendant came in and said I had spoilt the singing, and that I was an eye-sore to the institution. M ‘Donald said he was going to slow-poison me. Before being put in the asylum, I was chased out at the Taieri from Dunedin by a lot of men who knew that I had a remarkable prescription, which they wanted to take away from me. I was then put into the Lunatic Asylum for trespassing on the paddock to which the men had chased me.—Mr A. Bathgate assured his Worship that Mr Hume did not wish to do anything to burke inquiry into the matter, as he was in a position to snow that plaintiff was still insane, and that his statements werequite unfounded.—DrHulme gave evidence to the effect that plaintiff when in the Asylum was very anxious to get out, and eventually he was released, in the hope that the change would do bim good; but witness told him he wonld soon be back there again. Plaintiff was put into a cell for striking a warder. The cell is a light room. Witness saw biro on one occasion handcuffed, but not strapped.—The case wasjhere adjourned till Wednesday next.