CRUELTY TO A BABY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3723, 13 November 1906, Page 4

CRUELTY TO A BABY.

‘ Auckland, Saturday. i| William F. Clausen, labourer, " .’as put upon his trial at the Otahuhu Police Court, charged with having caused the death of his child, Ronald Frank Clausen, under the age of three mouths, by using physical violence. Constable Foreman said the child appeared, to have disturbed the father at night, and on those occasions the father took the child up, shook it, and on one occasion slapped it across the back, causing a black bruise. One night lie ordered his wife out of bed because the baby was crying, and, as she would not go,.die carried the child out of the room, laid it dow . in the kitchen, and forced bis wife out by assaulting her and blackening her eye. liven after the child was dead, he realised to go to the funeral, because he had fo ' go to work. • Dr Rowley said.,, thgJ.j£s Saturday, October 27th; hesaw%ie body of the infant, after death, and found it in a very dirty, uncared for condition. The body was that of a poorly nourished, unhealthy child. At the bottom of the back was a , bruise where the skin had been broken. He made a post mortem examination of the body, and found no internal evidence of injury. He believed the cause of death was convulsions, due to an enormously dilated stomach in a weak, unhealthy child. 1 His Worship: Do you think the violence indicated by the external bruises had any effect in 1 causing death ? j Witness; It would cause a cer- ! tain amount ot shock and reduce i the child’s vitality and power of I resisting disease, and so hasten i death. j His Worship :Do you think it j was a direct cause of death ? 1 Witness : No; not directly. | ■ His Worship ; If, instead of illusage, the child had received kind treatment, would its life have been saved ? 1 Witness: I think if it had received proper treatment its life would have been prolonged, and it possibly would have recovered. His Worship expressed an opinion that the doctor’s evidence, was insufficient to sustain thd* charge ot manslaughter, and it Would, therefore, be his duty to dismiss the charge. It was, however, open for the police to amend the charge to one ot assault. The information was amended accordingly, and the defendant was charged with having committed a common assault upon ihe child about October 21st by slapping it on the back and shaking it. The defendant pleaded guilty, and, in reply to His Worship, admitted that the constable’s opening statement was true. His Worship, in passing sentence, said to the defendant: “ You are a very lucky man'to escape the major charge. I think that a man like you is a great brute. A man who will shake and slap a little infant three months old is uu- ; worthy of the name of man. Your conduct was simply brutal, and I cannot condemn it too severely. . I shall give you for the aggravated assault the full penalty that the law allows me to give you. I convict you on your own confession, and I sentence you to six months’ imprisonment with hard-labour-.”