HUSBAND FINED

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 445, 29 May 1937, Page 5

HUSBAND FINED

WIFE THREATENED Allegation In Court London, May 12. Charles Graham Cobb, of St, Georges' Square, S.W., described at Westminster Police Court a street scene in which he alleged his newlywed wife was threatened by a man he had never seen before. Cobb, a 43-year-old company director, pleaded not guilty, with William Battine, aged 30, salesman, of 9t. George’s Road, S.W., to a charge of assaulting Herbert James Smith, commission agent, of Clapham Road, S.W. Police Constable Mundy said that on a Saturday evening he heard shouts and screams and found a crowd in Moreton Street, Plimlicp. He saw Cobb strike Smith. Battine was standing over Smith saying “I will kill you.” Cobb, in evidence, said he married Miss Watkins on the Saturday afternoon. In the evening they and Battine were out when suddenly his wife was dragged from his arm and he saw Smith brandishing a stick over her. "I seized his arm,” said Cobb, "and got my wife away from him. He kicked me twice, and I then hit him and he fell and broke his glasses. He had never seen Battine or myself before. When my wife was almost fainting Battine interfered.” Cobb said he was a mining engineer ar.d was sailing for West Africa in a day or two. The magistrate, Mr Kenneth Marshall, said Smith had been indiscreet, and might possibly have struck the first blow. He fined Cobb and Battine 40/- each and ordered Cobb to pay 10/6 doctor’s fee.