CHILD’S DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 24334, 24 October 1942, Page 4

CHILD’S DEATH

MAORI GIRL'S CRUELTY In the Supreme Court, Auckland, Memo Faraha, a Maori girl, 18 years o£ age, appeared before Mr Justice Fair for sentence for the manslaughter of Hui Tau Tamihana (aged four years). His Honour said the Maori people as a- whole were very kind to their children, but there were certain conditions under which that kindness seemed; to disappear. Mr Towle, who appeared for the prisoner, said it was quite clear that, apart from the injuries that caused the child’s death, he had been subjected to ill-treatment for a lengthy period. The wound that caused him' to lose his life was only the culmination of illtreatment over; a lengthy period, not only by the prisoner, but by her mother. The father had adopted the child Maori fashion when it was a few clays old, and taken it to his home near Kawakawa, where he had a family of nine. The mother seemed to have resented the presence of this child, and took a dislike to it from the beginning. The father took the easy way, and left home because of the mother's treatment of the child. Mr deal, for the Crown said the child ha’d been subjected to . brutal treatment for some considerable time. Tiie mother’s conduct was the subject of further investigation by the police, and it might be that some action would be taken.. . His Honour said it was a fair inference from the evidence that the child had been subjected to ill-treatment, not only by the prisoner, but by hei| mother/showing a degree of inhumanity that was appalling. It was impossible to conceive any responsible person with any sort of feeling of humanity treating a child of this age in this fashion. The prisoner had shown no kind of regret and no kind of feeling, and she must be subjected to a period of discipline. She would be sentenced to three years’ reformative detention.