CRUELTY TO A CHILD

Te Aroha News, Volume XI, Issue 1710, 30 January 1895, Page 2

CRUELTY TO A CHILD

- SHOCKING CASE AT THE THAMES., Thames, Monday. A mai* named Edward Boscall was today charged at the Police Court with having wilfully ill-treated: a child, two years of age. Defendant pleaded guilty. Sergeant Gillies stated that, on the morning of December 30th last, the defendant took the child, which was crying, and beat it severely about the. legs till the blood ran down. After/this* he rubbed the parts with painkiller, and placed the ckild in front of the fire, and there- kept it till the blisters came out. He then rubbed some heresone on the parts affected, and put the /child to bed, where <it was kept about three weeks. He then told his wife to tell; the . people that the child had fallen into the fire, and had got burned, and if he found out that she had told anything else- he* would cut her throat.

/. Defendant, '; in extenuation of tho < offence, stated that on the morning in question ho was playing with the child, when it commenced to" cry He gave it two or three'Jslaps, and then put pain-killer on to take the pain out. The fire was very small, and had burned down. He then got some rag and bathed it with kerosene, and then put castor oil and salad oil on •it. The kerosene brought out the blisters, | which were seven in number, and made them worse than they were. The child did not suffer after the first day. He did not want to appear in public as being cruel, so he told the mother to say it fell in the fire. His temper got the better of him. His Worship (Mr Eyre Kenny) said that there were two elements to take into consideration—The moral nature of the offence and the question of preventing others. Under the circumstances. ho did not feel justified in giving him the option of a fine. The full penalty in the present case was £SO, or three months’ imprisonment. The defendant had the helpless child in his custody, and' - to act in such a manner was contemptible. Moreover, his object in holding the child up to the fire had apparently been to give colour to the statement about it falling in the fire. The defendant would be sentenced to one month’s imprisonment in Shortland Gaol