SALAMAN SENTENCED

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 52, 24 May 1927, Page 9

SALAMAN SENTENCED

Fined £2O ? Expenses £6O and Deprived of Practice For Year

METHODS OF INDIAN “ATAH”

ON six charges of false pretences arising out of the allegation that he had represented himself to be “a person capable of diagnosing and curing ailments, and skilled in the treatment of disease,” Abraham Wally Mohamed Salaman, the Indian herbalist, of Khvber Pass Road, was found guilty by Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., this afternoon.

■■■pHE case, which occupied the best * part of three days in the hearing early last month, was adjourned in order that an independent analysis of Salaman’s medicines might be made. The result of the second analysis was heard last Friday, and judgment reserved until to-day. “Notwithstanding the fact that his only qualification consisted in the adoption of the title ‘Herb Atah,’ he claims to have successfully prescribed for many grateful patients,” said the magistrate in the course of a lengthy judgment. “There may be some truth in his assertion.” MANY KIDNEY SUFFERERS “In his evidence the defendant disclosed perhaps the secret of his success. He assumed that 80 per cent, of the people are suffering from kidney trouble, and he therefore ‘prescribes’ well-known remedies.” “These persons, of course, must not know that they are being treated in accordance with his theory. It is essential that they should have faith in the healer, and the defendant there-

fore goes through a form of examination, using a stethoscope on the neck, and sometimes a magnifying glass on the eyes or tongue. After this ritual, the sufferer is supplied with medicine. “The evidence for the prosecution as well as that for the defence, shows that almost invariably medicine, pills and plaster are supplied. The stethoscope was taken possession of 'by the police and it was found that one earpiece was blocked, rendering it practically useless for its proper purpose. “I do not doubt that for the defendant’s purposes, it would have been equally effective if both earpieces had been blocked.” Referring to the visit of two constables, who were afterwards certified as being in good health by two

independent medical men, to Salaman —visits, incidentally, which laid the foundations for the charges against the herbalist —the magistrate went on, WHAT ANALYSIS DISCLOSED “It is true that the defendant denies the evidence of the constables and emphatically denies the diagnosis in the one case of a certain complaint. It is unfortunate for him that the i analysis of the capsules show that they contained a substance used for the treatment of that disease. “It was principally because the analysis of these capsules was challenged that I gave the defendant permission to obtain a further analysis on his own behalf of the medicine supplied to the constables. His own witness confirmed the evidence of the prosecution. "It is interesting to note that the defendant’s stock-in-trade, which he says is worth £3,000, consists principally of drugs. The quantity of herbs is extremely small.

“This ‘lndian Herbalist,’ his counsel says, does not profess to be a doctor or a chemist, but heals patients with pills, medicines and capsules (not herbs) because he believes he carqdo them good. “Even assuming, however, that the defendant’s medicines had in some cases the desired effect, I should regard It as strange if among the large number of customers who took Parke Davis and Co.’s alophen pills and a tonic, some did not benefit. “!f the defendant had supplied his customers with Epsom salts, he would, provided he had disguised from them the nature of his remedy, in all probability have had an equally large number of beneficial results. “The only conclusion that I can come to after hearing the evidence is that the defendan l did by his words and conduct represent himself to be ‘a person capable of diagnosing and curing ailments, and skilled in the treatment of disease.’ “That representation was a mere pretence, and was false. I am satisfied after hearing the defendant’s denial of the statements of the principal witnesses for the prosecution, that the defendant had no real belief in the statements made to these witnesses as to the state of their health. “It is true that neither of these witnesses believed the assertion made by the defendant. “It is lot an essential element in the of’ nee of attempting to obtain goods by false pretences that the mind of the prosecutor shall have been affected by the false pretence “The defendant will therefore be convicted on all charges.”

Salaman was fined £2O, ordered to pay £6O expenses, and deprived of his practice for 12 months.