PETONE SENSATION.

Taihape Daily Times, 2 August 1919, Page 5

PETON E SENSATION.

DELANEY BEFORE COURT_ CHILD BRUTALLY TREATED AND ~ VIOLATED. ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL; BAIL REFUSED. In the Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Thursday before Mr. E. Page, 'S.M., the serious charge on which a young man, Roy Albert Delaney, a resident of ‘Pctone, has been remanded from time to time, was proceeded with_ The charge was that the accused, "o'n’Juh’ 12th, at Petone, committed a criminal offence on a. nine-year-old girl. Inspector Marsack conducted the prosecution on behalf of the poficc; Mr. P. W. Jackson appeared ofi_‘behalf of accused. The court was cleared.

Inspector Marsack said the ‘evidence he proposed to call would disélose that a most dastardly outrage lied"? been committed on a girl of tender yaers_ This little girl, in company with her brother, -had been sent by h’ér-‘mother, on July 12th, on some Inessagé§,“'”and" about 5.30 p.m., was accosted by the accused, who, after buying some sweets for the children, asked the girl to direct him to various places at Pctonc. The young brother was got rid of by accused sending him to buy apples, and it was alleged that the girl asked to direct accused to the re.creation ground. was taken to the grandstand of the recreation ground. where she was brutally violated. She was struck on the head and rendered unconscious, and subsequently man aged to struggle homewards. The treatment to which she had been subjected (details were given) was such that the girl had to be medically attended for a considerable period. Ancused was arrested, and, being placed among a. number of men, was iclien/tifiedh as the supposed -3ulp.rit;~ He denied all knowledge of the offence. The .child could give no evidence as to the actual offence, bccausebefore its committal» . she had been brutally struck and rendered unconscious. Evidence was given by the little girl on whom the alleged assault took place, a brother, the mother, the doctor,- and other Witnesses . For the defence, Mr. Jackson, called two witnesses to prove an alibi. "The. magistrate said he would commit‘ accused for trial. When formally asked to “plead ’a"ccused replied, “Not guilty.” - Mr. Jackson asked that accused be liberated on bail. ,

Inspector Marsaek strongly opposed thé applicat‘lon_ He did so in tho prisoner’s own interest, for his life would be in danger if he were liberated and went to Petone. Mr. Jackson: Always the way. The man is hanged before he is tried. The magistrate said he must refuse bail. _Therc were three factors fiat weighed with him——the seriousness of of the crime, the punishment to he inflicted if accused were found guilty of the crime, and the _wo'ightA of evidence, Considering these factors ne did not think it a. case for bail_ Accused, who throughout the proceedings had been guarded by two constables, was then removed from court. _ VD‘ V