AN INHUMAN STEP-FATHER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1751, 10 November 1917, Page 4

AN INHUMAN STEP-FATHER.

FIENDISH TREATMENT OF A CHILD. Inhuman treatment by a stepfather, George Stephenson, a blacksmith’s strikei", aged 22, was disclosed in the Richmond (Melbourne) Court the other day. “It is the most fiendish, revolting, dastardly outrage on a child, I was going to say, ever perpetrated, but that would hardly be correct, as Germans have exceeded it. It makes me think that this man must be a German.” These remarks were made by Mr E. A. F. Croft, who appeared to prosecute on behalf of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, The child’s father and the first husband of Stephenson’s wife had, counsel added, been killed at the front. The boy was therefore Stephenson’s stepson. The child, two years and eight months, was bound and gagged to keep him quiet while Stephenson and his wife went to a picture theatre, The treatment of the child

was illustrated by means of a dummy figure on a chair, both figure and chair being tied to a cot. Constable Maher stated that about 10.5 p.m. on October sth hewent with Senior Constable Hart and Constable O’Sullivan tc# No. 1 Dover Street, Richmond, where Stevenson and his wife rented a bedroom. When he tried to open the bedroom door he found it locked. Going to the window, he entered the room. Witness then saw the child, George Aisne Wood, sitting on a chair. The chair was tied to an iron cot, and the child was strapped to the seat of the chair, the strap being across the thighs. There was another strap around his waist; this had been tied to the ironwork of the cot. The child’s legs were tied just above the ankles to the legs of the chair, and the two arms were extended and tied round the -wrists, the backs of the-hands being towards the ironwork of the cot. The thighs and legs were uncovered, and were very cold. The head, face, and portion of the body were covered with fancy trousers. Portion of the leg was pulled down over the head and face and pinned to a woollen guernsey the child was wearing. The top portion of the trouser leg was tied to the ironwork of the cot above the child’s head. There was a little slit in the trousers, which allowed portion of the child’s nose thi’ough. The towel produced was tied oyer the child’s mouth and on to the ironwork of the cot. On removing the towel and trousers, said the constable, he found that a handkerchief had been placed in the leg of the trousers and tied over 1 the mouth. When he untied the handkerchief the child pushed the gag out of his mouth with his tongue, and said: “Daddy tied me up. You won’t tie George up, will you?” He removed the child to the kitchen and wrapped it in a warm quilt. He sent for a doctor, who ordered the child to be taken to the Alfred Hospital for treatment. When Stephenson and his wife came home the man admitted having bound and gagged the child, stating that he did so with the intention of breaking him of his dirty habits. The Bench, in sentencing Stephenson to a year’s imprisonment with hard labour, regretted that they could not make it heavier.