YOUNG LOCHINVAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 536, 13 December 1928, Page 1

YOUNG LOCHINVAR

GALLANT CARRIES OFF GIRL FRACAS AT DANCE COSTS £3O Defiling up to a Newton dance hall in a taxi, Arthur Grange attempted to carry off a girl from the centre of a circle of friends. An altercation. with the doorkeepers resulted in his appearance at the Police Court this morning to answer three charges of assault. Grange, a freezing: works employee aged 23, who was represented by Mr. Kells Mason, pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting Elder Schinkel and Wilfred George Crow on December 1. A third charge of assaulting Herbert Victor Baker and doing him actual bodily harm was reduced, after medical evidence had been heard, to common assault, Grange then pleading guilty. According to Chief-Detective Hammond. Grange had visited the dance hall late in the evening with the intention of picking up a girl that he knew, to go to a party with him. He had paid the money for admission, but the girl refused to go with him so that he had forced her out to the taxi. He had then demanded his money back, saying that it was only a deposit. Mr. Baker, who was doorkeeper, paid the

money, but a further altercation took place, Grange striking Mr. Baker and Mr. Crow, the other doorkeeper. As a result of the attack, Mr. Baker had been unablo to work for two weeks and was likely to be incapacitated for another fortnight. His cheek bone was fractured. Mr. Kells Mason explained that the work Grange did at the Southdown Freezing Works had made him particularly strong. On the night of the offence he had disposed of a considerable quantity of drink and was a little muddled. Following an argument with Mr. Crow, he had struck Mr. Baker, who intervened. Someone had annoyed Grange by saying that he was lucky not to be put out. Mr. Crow was not hurt, and the offence against the girl was merely a technical assault, as she would doubtless admit. Counsel understood that Mr. Baker was prepared to accept £ls as compensation, with medical expenses in addition. He asked for five weeks to pay. promising that £lO would be handed over before Christmas. Chief-Detective Hammond: He Is liable to six months for this. Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.: Yes; but as he is paying compensation, I shall make the fine £5 on the first charge and £1 on each of the others. He will be given a month to pay. Mr. Hammond: He is very lucky. The total penalty imposed amounted to £32, and the default to five weeks. An application for suppression of the name was refused.