CASE DISMISSED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26624, 21 November 1947, Page 3

CASE DISMISSED

CHARGE OF ASSAULT l 7 : 4 1 *' 4 After lengthly evidence in what was described by Mr J. D. Willis, S.M, as a particularly sordid case, a charge of assault preferred against George Albert Terry in the Police Court yesterday morning was dismissed by tfye magistrate on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence as to who had struck the first blow in a brawl in a boarding house conducted by the defendant. On the application of Senior Sergeant J. H. Hogg, a similar charge against Thomas Carlyle Ellis, the second party in. the fracas, was withdrawn. The evidence showed that, after an argument over a woman and allegations of blackmail, Terry and Ellis came to blows and Ellis drew a knife. He was overpowered and suffered painful injuries before' the police arrived and intervened. Mr Willis said that the question of who was the aggressor could not be accurately determined, as it was one man’s word against that of another. He had, therefore, no alternative but to dismiss the information. Charges Dismissed Albert William Harris, a 47-year-old; labourer, was discharged after evidence had been heard on a charge of stealing a lamp from the motor vessel Derryclare, and, alternatively, of receiving the lamp knowing it to have been stolen. Harris produced two witnesses, who stated that they had seen the defendant buy the lamp in a public bar' from a man who appeared to be a seaman. An order was made, with the defendant’s concurrence, for the return of the lamp to the shipping company. Remand Granted On the application of the chief detective, Mr T. Y.* Hall, a remand until December 4 was granted in a case in which Mary Eliza Caswell, a domestic, aged 62, is charged with the theft of articles from two city stores. Bail w?s renewed on the same terms as previously. Mr W. H. Carson appeared for the ant. 1 ■ ...V