“VERY QUIET MAN” FINED FOR ASSAULT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 438, 21 August 1928, Page 13

“VERY QUIET MAN” FINED FOR ASSAULT

TWO VERSIONS OF FIGHT Joseph South, a lab’ourer, was fined £5, before Mr. L. S. Rickerby, J.P./ and Mr. H. T. King, J.P., at the Police Court this 'morning for assault. George Denham said that, on July 23, he was walking down Hobson Street when South made an unprovoked assault on him, knocking him down and continuing to strike him until he lost his senses. His evidence was corroborated by Edward Hickson, who was accompanying Denham at the time. A story differing slightly from that of Denham and Hickson was told by Harold Walter Hill, a tramway motorman. Witness said that he had seen Denham in rather a threatening attitude before being struck by South. Mr. J. J. Sullivan, for South, called attention to differences in the stories told by the three witnesses, and said that South, had been struck first. He had been struck above the eye and his face had bled as a result. South describes himself as a very quiet man, but was contradicted by Chief-Detective Hammond, who referred to a long list of previous convictions for assault recorded against him.