NEIGHBOUR FALSELY CHARGED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 709, 8 July 1929, Page 1

NEIGHBOUR FALSELY CHARGED

Wished to Save Woman's Honour DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHCOTE CASE HE did everything possible to protect the good name of this woman, and he would never have mentioned the existence of this correspondence," said Mr. R. A. Singer, speaking on behalf of Jerko Didovich at the Police Court today. Didovich, against whom the police offered no evidence, was freed from allegations made against him by Lilian Emily Maddox. Later in the day, Robert Francis Maddox, the woman s husband, was charged with attempted murder of Didovich at Northcote on June 29.

Before the hearing of the attempted murder charge, Didovlch was placed in the dock, charged with a criminal offence against Mrs. Maddox. Chief-Detective Hammond, in explaining why the police proposed to offer no evidence on the charge, said that, on the morning of June 29, Mrs. Maddox and her husband called on him at his office. Maddox was in a depressed state, and his wife alleged that Didovich had assaulted her the previous morning. Since then Maddox had been arrested for attempted murder. Letters which were exchanged by Mrs. Maddox and Didovich had now been found, and these showed that Didovich and Mrs. Maddox were on intimate terms. Mrs. Maddox now admitted that the allegations she made against Didovich were false. “I regret that the prosecution has felt the necessity of going even as far as it has done,” said Mr. Singer. He went on to say that Didovich had done everything to protect the good name of the woman, and there was a wish on his part that the correspondence should not be mentioned publicly. The letters had been brought to Chief-Detective Hammond by a countryman of Didovich.

The charge was accordingly withdrawn. “SIGN THAT PAPER!" With the dismissal of the charge Maddox then stepped into the dock to face the attempted murder charge. He was represented hy Mr. J. J. Sullivan. Didovich, a married man, said that his property at Northcote backed on to that of Maddox. He and Maddox worked together in a quarry. Witness said that on the evening of June 29, about 9.30 p.m. witness, on returning home, was told that Maddox had left a message for him. “I went over and knocked on a window," said Didovich, “and Mrs. Maddox then opened a door. Maddox stood behind her, and she said something that I could not understand." Maddox then pointed an automatic pistol at accused, saying: “If you don't sign this paper you will die.” Didovich, according to his story, ran back home, but Maddox followed him shortly afterward. He still had the pistol and demanded that a paper should be signed. Witness did not hear any shots fired, and he denied that Maddox had accused him of impropriety with his wife.