BRUTAL HUSBAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 557, 9 January 1929, Page 1

BRUTAL HUSBAND

STRUCK WIFE WITH BABY IN HER ARMS GAOL TO QUIETEN HIM Arriving home drunk on Saturday evening, Gerald Massey attacked his wife who was standing on the verandah with her baby in her arms. He felled her to the ground with a blow of his ''clenched fist. Massey, aged 36, was charged at the Police Court this morning with assaulting Irene Victoria Massey. He pleaded not guilty but admitted a further charge of being found drunk. In the opinion of Sub-Inspector McCarthy the whole trouble was due to drink. Mrs. Massey said that her husband came home drunk on Saturday. She was standing on the verandah with her baby in her arms, when, -without any warning at all, her husband struck her on the face with his clenched fist. She fell to the ground but immediately struggled up and ran away. Witness said she was not hurt, but had suffered injury through her husband’s brutality on other occasions. Greville Fry Smithers, a neighbour, witnessed the occurrence and corroborated Mrs. Massey’s story. Massey, who had no recollection of the affair, was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment. Mr. Clark mentioned that an application for separation was pending, and asked that at be brought on as soon as Massey came out of gaol, as he was nervous about how the man would behave after his release. Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.: He will come out pretty quiet.