ONE GLASS OF WINE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20032, 2 September 1939, Page 7

ONE GLASS OF WINE

UNEXPECTED AFTERMATH BOY STRIKES POLICEMAN ADMONISHED BY BENCH Accepting the hospitality of an acquaintance who offered him a glass of wine at a dance proved to be the undoing of a 16-year-old youth as the liquor, to which he was unused, had a disastrous effect on him and started a chain of incidents which finally led to his appearance in the Childrens Court this morning, charged with disorderly conduct while intoxicated. Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., was on the Bench.

Senior-Sergeant J. F. H. Macnamara, who prosecuted, said that the accused came from a family, the boys of which seemed to have some difficulcv in keeping out of trouble with the "police. The accused apparently was loilowing in their footsteps. On the night of the offence, the accused was at a children's ball. About 10 o'clock a member of the police force, who was present, was informed that the accused was making a nuisance of himself. The officer went up to the boy and asked him to leave the hall, but the accused shaped up and twice struck the officer in the face. He was arrested and charged with being drunk and disorderly.

For the defendant, who pleaded guilty, Mr. K. A Woodward submitted that the remarks passed about the accused’s brothers had no bearing on the present case. The boy deeply regretted what had happened He had gone to the dance with his sister and while there had been given a full glass of wine. This had affected him and he did not remember subsequent events. Counsel pointed out that the constable who had accosted the accused was in plain clothes and the boy apparently had lost his head for the moment. “There is always an aftermath if you take too much liquor,” commented His Worship. "The accused has had a night in the cells and will be admonished and discharged. "Liquor is definitely out of place at dances,” added Mr. Luxford, expressing his surprise that there should have been liquor at a childten's dance.