STILL HOSTILE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 40, 10 May 1927, Page 13

STILL HOSTILE

A GIRL WITNESS SAYS DETECTIVE LIED RE-TRIAL of old man "Tne (Utective put down things which I did not say," declared a 14-year-old girl, the principal witness for proS T cu , ti . on in the case against YV till am Jenkins, 65, who was retried at. the bupreme Court to-day on a serious ?? :Lr M e - ‘-he jury could not agree at the first trial. Answering a vigorous examination in many syllables, the girl denied any knowledge of the alleged offence, though a sworn statement said to have been made by her was produced. Mr. S. L. Paterson, for the Crown, again received permission to treat the witness as hostile. His Honour Mr. Justice Stringer presided. Air. J. J. Sullivan represented the prisoner. Outlining the case, Mr. Paterson said that accused, who was a small farmer, had lived with his wife at Glenfield, near Birkenhead. The girl had been employed as a domestic help. It was a leged that the girl was followed into the motor shed by Jenkins. The girl admitted that, on a Saturday, after she had washed the dishes, she wont to a shed to get fowl-feed. ► Nothing improper had happened. Air. Paterson: Do you remember a police officer coming to see you?—Yes. .Do you remember seeing the doctor —Y es. Did anything happen to you that afternoon ?—No. ‘‘Be careful what you say. Think before you answer the questions put to you,” His Honour warned the witness. To Air. Sullivan: Witness said that she had never been interfered with by Jenkins. The tale she had told the doctor had been untrue. His Honour: Why did you tell Dr. Craven all these lies? —I don’t know. Evidence was given by the doctor and Detective McWhirter. The defence was a complete denial that Jenkins had committed or attempted to commit a crime. It was alleged that Airs. Jenkins had discovered he girl and the prisoner in the shed, but the wife would deny this in her evidence. , Jenkins also said that the statement credited to him by Detectiv McWhirter was untrue. “I asked the detective to be honourable with me, and he said he would be my friend,” continued the witness, “and he told me to write down ‘I have read this over and it is correct.’ I had not my glasses with me and I cannot read without them.” Air. Paterson: Where were your glasses?—ln the kitchen. Jenkins said that he considered one should never trust a policeman or a detective. “The detective did all the talking, and did not take down my answers when I denied everything,” he said. His Honour: Why didn’t you get your glasses?—He made himself so plausible. His Honour: He was so plausible that you forgot your suspicions about policemen, and did not go into the kitchen to get your glasses! Airs. .Tonkins said that she had never threatened to kill* the girl, or even to hit her. Witness had never found her husband misconducting himself with the child. (Proceeding).