NIAGARA PASSENGER FINED FOR ASSAULT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 148, 13 September 1927, Page 9

NIAGARA PASSENGER FINED FOR ASSAULT

PUNCHED SHIP’S STEWARD Immaculately dressed, and speaking with an American accent, Clifford Sterricker, a through passenger on the Niagara, pleaded guilty before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., yesterday to a charge of assault on the high seas. VyiLLIAM STEPHEN, pantrymansteward on the Niagara, who bore evidence of a blow beneath the left eye, stated thatj between Suva and Auckland, the accused attacked him in a passageway and struck him with his clenched fist. The accused said the complainant had annoyed him for some time during the voyage and had insisted on using such terms as “Yes, dear,” and “Yes. sweetheart,” whenever he asked for anything. “It made me feel so small,” said the accused, “and I stored it up in my mind.” Later his wife told him that the steward had insulted her and he rushed down and knocked the complainant down. As he did so his wife called out that it was the wrong man. The accused apologised, but the complainant would not accept the apology. Mr. Allan Moody, for the company, said the chief steward regarded the offence as being a serious one. It was a brutal and unprovoked assault and he asked for a penalty. The accused was an American, and had made himself objectionable throughout the trip. A fine of £ 5 was imposed/ half the amount to go to the complainant.