WOMEN SPAT ON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 378, 12 June 1928, Page 1

WOMEN SPAT ON

ASSAULT IN CITY BAN’S DISGUSTING CONDUCT “Ysu smiled at me up till last Friday* and then you gave me a wrong face,” said Maurice Tangney, aged 32, to a girl who gave evidence against him at the Police Cour: to-day. After the story that was told to-day, fl Deems very unlikely that the girl had »rer smiled at him at all. Tangney pleaded not guilty to two charge*, of assaulting girls by spitting At them. One of the girls, a clerk in a city office, naid that she and the office typiste had gone to an office in Shorthnd Street on business early in the afternoon of May 28. Tangney walked past them, called them naughty girls, and then spat on the witness’s face and neck. She went on to say that accused had frequently called at the office where 3,ie was employed, and made a nuisance of himself. “You always smiled at me up till last Friday?” asked Tangney, in crossexamination. Witness: I wouldn’t smile at a mad man. The Magistrate. Mr. F. K. Hunt: Step down —he's only trying to make a fool of you. The ether girl said that Tangney had hissed at her and her companion in Short land Street.

WAS IT A HISS? “That’s nearer the truth,” said Tangjiey. “Now tell us, was it a hiss or a spit?” “You made a hissing noise,” said the girl, and she considered that it was natural to expect some moisture. The accused, who elected to give evidence, began by announcing that he had never spat at a woman in his life.

The Magistrate: Don’t tell me that; I gave you six months for doing it in Wellington eight or nine years ago. Tangney went on to say that he had hissed at the girls to attract their attention, because he thought they were friendly toward him. He was sentenced to two months imprisonment on each charge, the terms to be cumulative.