BATTERED WRONG GIRL

NZ Truth, Issue 1180, 12 July 1928, Page 10

BATTERED WRONG GIRL

Mouldey's Brutal Attack On Sleeping Domestic (From "N.Z. Truth's" Palmerston North Representative.) Marcus Alfred Stapleton Mould ey had resolved to start life afresh t and, strong m the faith of his sweetheart, had begun setting his house m order I o redeem a character upon which the slur of disgrace had rested.

BUT the stigma of a previous criminal conviction was to prove his undoing. Although his sweetheart could forget that he had served a sentence m gaol for a criminal offence' and promised to help him start life afresh, there were others less sympathetic towards him. As disclosed m court last Week, all the trouble arose with the arrival of a certain young girl friend of Marcus* sweetheart. ; This girl evidently looked askance upon her friend's lover and lost no opportunity of prejudicing her against him. , .•■■■.. Her machinations eventually bore fruit, for Mouldey*s sweetheart told him that she preferred the company of her girl friend. . : Big and powerful, with a strong and even brutal jaw, Mouldey is hot the type to be trifled with. His subsequent actions bore out the reputation which he had been trying to live down. , Kept waiting for nearly an hour, after he had made an appointment with his girl, he found that she had left her employment without telling him of her intentions and had gone away without any explanation. Mouldey, not unnaturally, it appears, blamed the girl friend for the alienation of his sweetheart's affections — and proceeded to take revenge. But here Fate, which appeared, to have weighted ' the scales undtly against Marcus Alfred, took a handIntent upon his- revenge, Mouldey entered the Nurses' Home one evening, after the witching hour, and, proceeding :to what he thought was the ivoom of the intriguing friend, committed an assault as brutal as it was Inexcusable, upon a girl whom he found 'm bed. j ■-.■.:"' .- ■' . ; " - '■■ ■ ■ . But even the sweets of revenge were to be denied Mouldey. -The girl whom he so brutal- , ly manhandled was : ■' not the object of .his wrath, Wit another woman who did not even know him. . Thus, following his violent and •cowardly behavior, Mouldey found 'himself, for the third time m his life, facing the court from the prisoners' dock. The typewriter tapped busily as two justices m the Palmer,ston North Magistrate's Court heard the evidence against the accused on a oharge of breaking and entering by night with intent to commit a crime. iThe police withdrew a further charge of assault and committing actual bodily harm., : , In outlining the facts of the case, Senior- detective Quirke, described the manner m which an innocent victim of the assault, Miss Fraser, ha 4 been found injured and bleeding m her bed. The accused, he stated, had been keeping company with' another dpmestlc who liad been at the institution and had conceived a violent dislike for a girl friend of hers. , The first witness was Janet Fraser, the unfortunate victim of Mouldey's vicious and mis-directed revenue. She showed: signs of the unenviable experience through which she had passed and had to be given a chair during the recital of her evidence. The witness stated that she was a domestic, employed at the Nuraes' Home at the Palmerston North public hospital. , She occupied a bedroom on , the ground floor of the home and had retired to rest about 9.50 i>.m. on't'-fi evening of June 29. She Had closed, but riot, looked, the door of her bedroom. She thought she must have gone to sleep about ten o'clock. Later she; had been disturbed. . .'■■•' "Tell the court how you were disturbed," eald the detective. "Someone was battering me over the ■•..■• head," replied witness. >The plainclothes ' man (somewhat unnecessarily): "What did you do? Were you still asleep or did you wake up?" Continuing, witness — with considerable hesitation— told the court how she had screamed and given the alarm. . Bhe had felt her head and faoe all wet, and,! when the lights had gone up, she had seen blood all over her bed. , She had heard a swing ; door outside her room open and shut, followed by someone going down the back stairs. The sounds she. heard -.suggested a person In stockinged feet. ' .. She had succeeded m putting on the light, but had not seen the person who struck her. Asked whether she knew the accused, witness answered m the negative, but stated that she had heard ;of him around the hospital. V . To her knowledge he had been friendly with another domestic there, but who had since left the hospital. A friend of this girl, named Annie Taylor, -had bcoupied a bedroom across the passage. „ ' . The girl who had been keeping company with . accused had slept m the next-door room before she left the Institution. '■■"•.'■ Into the' box then stepped Annie Taylor, who' had filled, the role of unpopular friend and at whom accused's gentle ministrations had been aimed. Mouldey regarded her fixedly during the whole of her evidence, : which she gave with many smiles and some giggling. •■■' ■ ■ '. . > ■■•'■. . ' •. . . ' ;••••. ■•" Annie stated that she knew the accused, who ;had kept company with another domestic at the hospital until about three weeks ago. . •' I Questioned by the deteotive, ,wit-> ; ■' ness admitted that accused had taken a dislike to her.

Innocent Victim

Unpopular Friend

After some beating about the bush, she stated that this dislike had arisen on account of her advising her friend not to have anything to do with Mouldey. Continuing, Annie mentioned that she slept m a bedroom two doors from that occupied by Janet Frasdr. Her girl • friend,' before she left the hospital had also slept m a nearby room. Clara Henderson, home sister at the public hospital, told the court that she had secured all doors and windows m the institution before retiring on the night of the 29 th. The pantry window, however, had been left ab6ut 12 inches open. Some time after midnight on the 30th, she had gone to the room of the girl, Janet Fraser, where she had found her injured about the head and bleeding. . , , On examining the premises, she had found that the pantry window had been pushed open and that a side door was also ajar. In giving evidence as to Miss Fraser's injuries, Dr. Rhari HilUard Pitcaithly, one of the resident medicos at the hospital, stated that m his opinion the girl had been struck by a round, heavy instrument. She was suffering badly from shock and had needed attention for some days before she had been fit to return to work. : There must have been considerable force behind the blow which had caused the injuries. Senior-detective Quirke gave evidence as to having interviewed the accused. After sbme , conversation, Mouldey admitted that he had been to the Nurses' Home oil the night pf the assault m order to see a girl named Annie Taylor, whom he considered had come between him and his sweetheart. Mouldey had told the detective that he had gone to the home, entered through a Bide door and gone upstairs ~ to what he thought was the girl Taylor's bedroom. * He had seen a girl lying m bed, had caught her m his hands and dashed her against the wall. At this stage Detective Quirke produced a signed statement made to him by the accused, m which he admitted that he had gone to the girl Taylor's room on the night m question m order to ask her where his sweetheart had gone and to remonstrate with her concerning her Interference with the affair. This girl, accused alleged, had caused trouble between them, eventually persuading his sweetheart to leave the nome and to throw him over. He had no intention of committing an indecent assault, but had manhandled a girl m bed, believing that it was the girl Taylor. He had then decamped down the back stairs. Continuing his evidence, Detective Quirke stated that later accused had admitted that he entered the home through the pantry window and not through the side door. He had left by this door, which he had unlocked. This closed the evidence for the police. During the hearing, accused made several attempts to offer a statement, but was told by the bench that this could be done later. After the charge had been read to him, Mouldey Intimated that he wished to explain the motive for the crime. "Some two and a-half months ago," he said, "I came m contact with a young lady who worked at the public hospital. I told her of my previous experience of life and of , my bad record. "I asked her if she would help me to become a better man and she replied: 'Yes, I'll try." "After our first month's acquaint- ] ance, she told me that she had a young lady friend coming from Has- • - ' '■-- tings, and I asked her whether it would make any difference between) us. "At all events it did make a difference, with the result that I had more quarrels with the young lady I had been going with and she told me that she preferred the ' company of her young friend to mine. "I then spoke to her about what she had said about starting life afresh, but Mlsa Taylor, who was present, made all the difference. • "I then asked my young lady to meet me, by appointment the following evenIng.. •'- I. '. ■.■ .:■ -■ ■.•■■■■ ■■ ' "I went to meet her, only to find that I was kept waiting three-quarters of an hour. "I went to a nearby, telephone and rang up the Nurses' Home. They told me that the young lady was no longer there. .She had gone ' away without leaving any explanation or message. "I put it down as Miss Taylor's fault for coming between us m the first place. Therefore, I resolved to seek revenge, with the result that, m doins? ho, I made further trouble for myself. That is all I have to say, your worship," Mouldey then pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court at Wellington for sentence. As he stepped down from the dock, he remarked: "If I am given a long sentence, your worship, I will be able to learn a trade In 'gaol." . The bench intimated that this would be a matter for the Supreme Court to decide.