ALL FOR LOVE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 91, 8 December 1931, Page 7

ALL FOR LOVE

MAN'S STRONG INFATUATION FOR GIRL 20 YEARS YOUNGER. STRANGE ACTIONS. WELLINGTON, Saturday. The story of a man's infatuation for a girl twenty years his junior was told in the Magistrate's Court at Lower Hutt yesterday, when the man, Arthur Stratton, aged 37 years, of Levin, was charged by Alfred Leask with continually trespassing on his property at Lower Hutt for the purpose of molesting his daughter, Evelyn Leask, aged 17. Sergeant J. W. McHolm said that Stratton had been brought before the Court 'in Wellington on a similar charge in respect of the same girl. He had not been able to find a surety as ordered then, and in consequence had spent thrce months in gaol. Since ' his release he had been molesting thg girl again. Although in the sergeant's opinion he was harmless, the women in the neighbourhood of the Leask family were r-fraid of him. He was not normal, though not a fit subject to be detained. He maintained that he was in love with the ,e-irL

Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M. (to the defendant) : "Does fShe encourage you?" — ^"She has." "Are you going to give it up or going to carry on" — "I'll have to give it up." "What about going back to Levin? Will you do that?" — "Yes." "Have you got the money for a ticket?" — "Yes." Sergeant McHolm: "Not a return." "If the girl won't have you. it's best to forget about it," said the magistrate. "I can't forget," replied the defendant. The complainant, Leask, said that Stratton would keep watch and enter the house when witness left it. "The | poor kid's frightened to look at him," he said, referring to his daughter. "When she gets Jiome at night she's got the wind up all the time." Mr. Woodward said he did not want to send Stratton to gaol, but he wuuld have to go unless he left the district. "You have to go away and stay away," he warned Stratton. "Yes, but I love the girl." "The best thing is to make up your mind to get over it." — "I can't get over it." "It is now about 12 o'clock," said Mr. Woodward. "If the police find you in the district at 2 o'clock they will arrest you, and I will deal with you again. The case is adjourned until 2 o'clock." When the Court resumed shortly after 2 p.m. Stratton was still present, having made up his mind, according to the sergeant's statement, that he would not go away. To the charge he pleaded not guilty. Evidence was given by Detective W. McLennan and by Constable Dwyer that Stratton had been "hanging round the streets," particularly at night. He had had to he ejected from the Leask's backyard. Asked if he had anything to say, Stratton replied, "I want to marry the girl." Mr. Woodward ordered him to enter into a recognisance, with one surety of £25, that he would keep the peace. If he did not enter into that recognisance he would have to go to gaol for a month. He was allowed a week to go to Levin and find the money. The magistrate issued a warning that if he made a nuisance of himself again he would be brought up and sent to gaol without option.