JOCKEY’S BRUTAL ASSAULT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 976, 20 May 1930, Page 10

JOCKEY’S BRUTAL ASSAULT

Judge’s Scathing Indictment SEVEN YEARS’ HARD LABOUR “ Lax Control of Dances ” “ K PART from whether a flogging can ever serve a useful A purpose in the case of sexual perverts, I find that I am not justified in meeting your own brutality with the brutality of the lash.” The young jockey, Claude James Regam was thus addressed by Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court this morning when he was sentenced to seven years’ hard labour for committing rape upon a girl of 15 at Hamilton.

Trenchant criticism was levelled by the judge at the conducting of dances and the habit of parents and guardians in allowing young girls to attend such functions without escorts. “The prisoner has pleaded guilty to this offence on a girl of 15. The girl was not only an unwilling victim, but she repelled the prisoner to the limit of her strength—until indeed she lost consciousness,” —said Mr. Justice Smith. Upon this short summation of the case, it might appear to many that the requirements of retributive and deterrent justice would not be satisfied unless the prisoner were sentenced to a flogging, and to a severe and lengthy term of imprisonment. I do not propose to deal with the general question as to whether the punishment of flogging can ever be justified, or can ever serve a useful purpose in the case of the sexual pervert. I propose to deal only with the facts of this case, and to consider whether a flogging should be imposed. OFFERED NO ASSISTANCE The first fact is that the girl was herself, to some extent, responsible for the dangerous position in which she found herself when she came to be alone with the prisoner. It appears that this girl of 15, with another girl of 14 as a companion, went, unescorted, to a public dance in Hamilton. There they met, for the first time in their lives, the prisoner and a companion of his, another jockey. Prisoner bought sweets for the girls. Prisoner himself and his companion had whisky. This girl of 15 then tried to dance with the prisoner, but found that she could not do so, because the prisoner was under the influence of alcohol. The two girls and the prisoner and his companion left the dance hall at about

Prisoner suggested they should go into the lake grounds, but the girls declined, saying they would keep to the road. Prisoner then offered to obtain for the girl of 15 a ticket for the races. The girl said that she did not know whether she would be allowed to go to the races, but notwithstanding this, and notwithstanding her previous experience of prisoner during that night, she went with him toward the stables. They were accompanied by the other jockey and the other girl. At one stage, the prisoner stopped, ostensibly to ask the girl a question, and the other two walked on ahead. Prisoner then committed the ferocious assault to which he has pleaded guilty. “In passing, I desire to say that the other jockey and the girl with him did return to the place where the assault was taking place, and that this other jockey, who saw what was going on, then turned away without either coming to the girl's assistance or going to seek for aid. “This jockey deserves the gravest and strongest censure for his conducl. On the other hand, the young man of 19 and the taxi-driver who later did come to the girl's assistance are to be warmly commended for their actions, although their assistance did, in fact, come too late. “I desire to say also, that it is a grave as well as a sad circumstance that a girl of 15 should be allowed by her parents or guardians to go, unescorted, to a public dance. This case illustrates the peril of such conduct. In a tragic way, it shows the need of adequate home training and supervision. “If that had been available Tor this girl, it is a reasonable inference thai she would never have been in*, the company of the prisoner, a person pre viously unknown to her, beside r vacant section of land, at midnight. NO GENERAL CHARGES “This case also raises in a tragic manner the question whether the pro prietor of every dance hall, and the organisers of every public dance should not quite voluntarily see to il that obvious juveniles are turned away from public dances, unless in charge of an escort. I make no general charges. I merely say' that no such control seems to have been exercised at the dance to which these girls went Much public anxiety would be allay'ed I think, if some such steps were taken Much public anxiety would also, l think, be allayed, if the proprietor ol every dance hall and the organisers of every public dance would take vol untary, but rigorous steps to eject any person under the influence of liquor. “Again I make no general charges : I merely say' that the evidence in this case shows that the girl could no > dance with the prisoner because he , was under the influence of alcohol; ! ' and it is a fair inference from the evidence before me that he ought to have ' been ejected. He was not so ejected. The control of the dance seems to have been inadequate.” The probation officer at Hamilton reports that prisoner is now 21 years of age; that he was at school until he passed the sixth standard; that prisoner is (in the opinion' of the probation officer) not normal but a sexual pervert: that prisoner is in no yvay repentant for his conduct toward the girl, but thinks his actions quite proper; that prisoner is cheeky and impertinent, and not amenable to dis- ! cipline, the judge said. ! Prisoner’s mother gave evidence that her son has not been normal since he fell from a hqrse in a hurdle race, some three years ago, the judge continued. I thereupon remanded prisoner for observation. It appears the prisoner was admitted to the Whangarei Hospital on April 2, 1927, in an unconscious state, due to a fall in a hurdle race. The diagnosis was “basal fracture and cerebral contusion.” Prisoner was unconscious for four days, and then began to regain consciousness at intervals. Prisoner, who was then IS, behay'ed in hospital like a troublesome child. He was discharged as fit on May 9-, 1927. A little over two years later, the judge continued, on June 29, 1929, prisoner was found in the street in a semi-conscious state. He was ad-

mitted to the Auckland Public Hospital as a “post traumatic mental defect.” He suffered from headache, dizziness, and was, at times, semi-con-scious. His memory was poor, his conversation rambling, except that his mind was continually dwelling on the episode of the riding of his horse immediately before the accident. In hospital, he was hard to manage, restless and irritable. On one occasion he cut the temperature chart to pieces. He also attempted to attack his neighbours in the ward. As this occurred in hospital, it seems to show that a tendency to violence was then associated with his mental disorder. During this period, prisoner was examined at the mental hospital; the report confirmed the symptoms already described. It also stated that prisoner himself complained of a feeling that he wished to “bash” things. However, his reflexes were normal, and upon an X-ray examination there was no evidence of bone injury. He was not thought bad enough for committal to the mental hospital. He was therefore discharged from the public hospital on July 29, 1929, his condition being described as “unchanged,” as the hospital authorities then recognised that prisoner had little chance of improvement. About three weeks later, on August 17, prisoner was picked up profoundly drunk, and taken into hospital on account of his previous sick record. He was discharged the next day. A fortnight later, on August 31, 1929, prisoner was admitted to the Public Hospital, suffering from an acute inflammation due to sexual disease. He was discharged on September 3, 1929, because he could not be kept in bed, and because he insisted upon going away.

DIMINISHED CONTROL The date of the present offence was I April 12, 1930—some seven months after his departure from the public | hospital. The result of observation at the mental hospital during the pas! week is that the medical superintendent confirms the continued existence of the symptoms already described. Prisoner is dull, has a decidedly poor memory, especially for recent events, and suffers from diminished emotional control. At times, he still imagines he is riding in the hurdle race. When he reaches the hurdle, everything seems to become blank. In the opinion of the medical superintendent, the prisoner suffers from traumatic psychosis—that is, as I understand it, a functional mental disorder due to the wound in the head. In such cases, there is a greatly increased susceptibility to the reaction of alcohol, and a diminished appreciation of moral responsibility. The medical superintendent states that although the prisoner has been warned of the danger of taking alcohol, prisoner complains that he has not the power to abstain from it when opportunity offers. Addressing the prisoner the judge said: “You may or may not have been able to follow the examination which I have made of the circumstances of your case. In the result, I think that after you had consumed the alcoholic liquor which you took at the dance, you were gripped by an overwhelming sexual desire. Your companion the other jockey was not so gripped. Yet your sense of moral responsibility was not obliterated; it was only diminished. The young man whtT came to the girl’s rescue said in his evidence, referring to you: ‘I heard the man say to the girl to shut her mouth, unless she wanted to get him hung.’ You knew therefore that you were doing wrong, although you were at the time in the grip of an overmastering passion which arose from the effect of alcohol upon the mental disorder from which you suffer. “I have no doubt that before your accident, you exhibited the good qualities of which your mother has. spoken. Although you have no previous convictions, you are liable, I think, to break out at any time in acts of criminal sexual brutality. Not only in the interest of the community, but in the interest of yourself and your family, you must be kept out of harm's way for a long time. You must also suffer punishment for the offence which you have committed. The information which is before me will be j forwarded to the prison authorities, ] so that it may help them if possible : in their treatment of you. All that 1 j can do is to sentence you to a term of ! imprisonment.”