EXTRAORDINARY ASSAULT BY A DETECTIVE.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 110, 4 November 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

EXTRAORDINARY ASSAULT BY A DETECTIVE.

(From the Age, October 23rd.) ■ Detective Maxwell appeared before the District Court on Monday, to answer a charge preferred against him of assaulting a Mr and .Mrs White in the* Eastern Market, Bourke street, at an early hour on the morning of Saturday, the 10th inst. The complainant, a gardener, came into town about half-past two o'clock in the morning with some produce forthe market. His wife was also with him in the springcart, with her baby, about twelve months old. On arriving at the market Mrs White, feeling cold after her long drive : from East Brighton, left the cart and walked up and down the pavement with her child in her arms, while the husband was attending to the horse. The defendant .Maxwell, whom it appeared had been sent to do duty in the market, met her as he was walking up the street, and catching hold of her by the neck of her <Iress, commenced shaking her very roughly. She , told him to desist or she would give him ! in charge. Instead of doing so, he pushed her up against the wall, thereby bruising her back, and afterwards commenced dragging her about in the most violent manner, until she was at last compelled to ' let the child fall on the ground through sheer exhaustion. At this time her husband's attention was drawn to the matter, and he ran ftp to the detective and asked him what he was doing with his i wife, but by way of an answer to such a reasonable intei rogation, the detective, whilst he held her firmly with one hand, , gave him a violent blow on the left eye i with the other, catising a torrent of blood instantly to cover his face. A crowd had gathered by this time, for, despite the earlineos of the hour, a great many gardeners had arrived in the market, and some of them cried out that Maxwell was a detective, and that White had better not ' retaliate Neither White nor his wife knew who their as ailant was uctil then • , and, on his character being made known, as if further to show his authority, he held them both firmly, and signified his intention of taking them into custody for an offence, of the nature and extent of ; which they had not the slightest concep- ■ tion. At that moment Constable M 'Grath. : who was on duty in" Bourke street, came up and rsked Maxwell what was the matter. The latter replied that htt had taken Mr and Mrs White in charge for assaulting him. The constable then told them they would have to go n with him to the lock-up, but the bystanders, indignant at the conduct or the detective, explained the case, and the constable evidently compre- • heriding who was in the wrong, suggested ' to Maxwell that it would be more advisable for him to ltt his prisoners go, a course which he thereupon adopted, and Mr and , Mrs White were released. These were the simple facts of the case as stated in the court yesterday, by the piainfiffs, who itemed both respectable, hardworking people* Their evidence was borne t>ui by the testimony of several other witnesses, who were ptesent at the time the assault wa9 committed. That ttie detective could have been in his sober senses can hardly be imagined, and though, by evidence he adduced for the defence, be attempted to showthat he wassoher'; yet the statement \ of Mrs Whi'e, that he srrelt strongly of brandy and was partly intoxicated, can hardly be doubted. The child, through the fall it experienced, had been very unwell ever since. Mr White had undoubtedly received a most violent blow on the eye, as it was still much swollen in court yesterday, although the injury had been inflicted ■ more than a week aga. He said that the detective also struck him a second blow on the pit of the stomach, and that he had since spat blood in consequence, but hi.? witnesses only deposed to the first blow. By their evidence it also appeared that, on coming up to rescue his wife, he did not offer to assault Maxwell, but merely tried to pull her away, and demanded to know what he was doing with her. Maxwell, in his defence, swore that when he met Mrs White in Bourke street, with the child in her arms, he suspected that she was carrying some stolen property, and that he consequently asked her W'aat it was, when she told him to mind his own business. He stated that he told her he was a detective, and that she then showed him it was a child she was carrying, and " laid " it on the pavement. Her husband, coming up at the moment, put himself in a fighting attitude, and demanded to know witness's business with his wife, and, at the same time struck him a violent blow in the region of the eye. " Witness thenj-in self-defence, said he retaliated. On being crossexamined by Mr Bead, who appeared for the prosecution, he made a sad bungle .of his story, and contradicted himself several times as to whether or not he had Mr and Mis White in custody when the constable came up. He also said that lie had taken no liquor that moining, and produced a constable to prove that he saw him sober some time afterwards. The wound lie said he had received near the eye from Mr White, if it ever had existed, had been at all events of little consequence, as there were no traces of it visible. M'Grath' saw blood on his face when he came up to him, but he could, not deppserto any wound> andadmitted that the i>l6od might have coind from White's face. Constable Bowden, however, deposed to him havipg a slight wound on his face, but he said it was not of much consequence; and admitted, when cross-examined by Mr Read, that he might have caused it himself. JJIr Hackett, who presided : on tbe/benclv, said it was evident Max\vell had committed a most aggravated assault without the slightest . provocation 1 , and that, instead of his own evidejpee Keirigin his favor, it rather, from j its apparent imprbbab^ extra? ordinary- contradictory, manner in which he' hid gi vert it, had gone to prove the case for the- prosecution. "Mr Hackett characterised Maxwell's conduct as? being altogether outrageous, and fined him in the' sum of £10,. and 33s Qd costs.