“DISGRACEFUL SCENE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 936, 1 April 1930, Page 10

“DISGRACEFUL SCENE”

WIFE TELLS OF BRUTAL HUSBAND SEPARATION SUGGESTED Music, it is said, hath charms — so if James Phillip Hooks had been supplied with gramophone records last evening he would not have assaulted his wife and punched his daughter on the nose. It was because he couid not find records for the gramophone that the trouble had started, according to the story the wife told at the Police Court this morning. Hooks was fined £3. Hooks, a labourer aud seaman, aged 32, pleaded not guilty through Mr. Hart, to a charge of assaulting Rita Margaret Hooks last evening. The episode which had led to his arrest was described by counsel as **a disgraceful scene,’’ and “a domestic donnybrook.” Mrs. Hooks said her husband had arrived home drunk in a taxi about 5.15. His tea was ready, but ue wanted to play the gramophone and used filthy language because there were no records. He had then knocked witness about and kicked her. Her daughter who had intervened was also knocked about and struck on the nose. Witness had tried to get her husband to bed, but he had kept up his conduct for three hours. He broke a chair. “I am quite used to him breaking the crockery,” Mrs. Hooks said. “Three times I have been separated from him and each time I have foolishly taken him back.” Witness admitted that her husband had called the police, but when Mr. Hart suggested that it had been more of a domestic quarrel than an assault, Mrs. Hooks, a diminutive figure, said “You can see the size of me.” Mr. Hart: Yes. You’re what they call a feather-weight. Mrs. Hooks denied striking her husband with an iron, but admitted that, about a fortnight ago, she had thrown a cake of sandsoap at him, hitting him in the eye. Hooks gave her £4 a week out of his wages. The daughter corroborated Mrs. Hooks’s evidence. Her father, she said, had hit her three times on the nose, making it bleed. Mr. Hart suggested proceedings should be taken for another separation order. The assault case could be remanded until the proceedings came before the court. “It is just an ordinary family quarrel,” counsel said. Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M.: If that is an ordinary domestic quarrel the sooner they are separated the better. Mr. Hart was of the opinion that the whole trouble was due to drink. It was a disgraceful scene for a respectable menage, but nobody was hurt. Hooks had been in steady work and gave his wife a fair share of his wages. “Accused will be wise to consent to a separation order,” decided the magistrate, imposing a fine of £3, in default seven days’ imprisonment.