HISSED AND SPAT AT WOMEN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3805, 14 June 1928, Page 2

HISSED AND SPAT AT WOMEN.

YOUNG MAN GETS FOUR MONTHS. Auckland, June 12. A well-known figure on the streets of Auckland, Maurice Tangney (aged 32), was arrested in Shortland Street yesterday for assaulting two women by spitting in their faces, and this morning at the Magistrate’s Court he appeared on the charges, pleading not guilty- v “It was lucky for Tangney that friends of the young women were not with them at the time,” said Sub-Inspector McCarthy just prior to calling evidence. The first young woman stated that at about 1.45 yesterday afternoon in Shortland Street Tangney passed close by her. He made a rude remark and then spat in her face. Witness had seen Tangney before. He had visited the office where she worked and had made a nuisance of himself. < Tangney: I only hissed at you, didn’t I? —No; you did more than that, as I have already described.” You always smile at me?—“No; certainly not. Not at a man like you, who must be mad to do what you do.

Mr. Hunt: What do you hiss at women in the street for, anyway?— “Well, I wanted to attract her attention. I thought she was friendly toward me.”

The other young woman corroborated the evidence of the previous witness.

Tangney then went into the witness box. “I may have met the young ladies yesterday, but I did not spit at them. I only hissed.” “Don’t tell me that,” said Mr. Hunt. “Eight or nine years ago I gave you six months’ imprisonment in Wellington for a similar offence. On that occasion you were stopping and accosting women in the street.” On each charge Tangney was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment, the Magistrate directing that the terms be cumulative.