CHARGE OF ASSAULT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 298, 11 December 1908, Page 4

CHARGE OF ASSAULT.

YdLNti MAN COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. Yc-'terday morning a young man nanv c:l William Davidson, a journeyman Ink- v. \v.t- ehapieil with having on Uth Xovniber last, m Devon Street, assaulted luliii Crockett by striking 'him with lli • list and causing him actually bodily harm. .Mr. T. S. Weston appeared for the accused. Florence Crockett, a girl of about 1-1 I years, daughter of John Crockett, o) : '.,emon (Sinel, staled that on Saturday , night, November Hill, .she was with hei i.nher and luct'icr. They went inti McNeill's shop, r.'iil -he remained out

side. This was aliuu,. a quarter to tei I o'clock. The accused came behind he: I and pulled her hair. She went into tin shop and complained to her parents The accused had said something to he; about going home, but she didn't under stand him. When she went inside, th . accused beckoucd to her through thI window. Mr. Lambert came into th ' I shop. Then, in consequence of wlm. I her father told her, she left the sho| 1 with .Mrs. Lambert, and went across tli footpath to proceed up Devon Street Accused again beckoned to her. lie \va I quite close to her then. He said some I J thing again about going Home, but slu

couldn't say what it was. 11m fathi'' I was standing at the shop door, anr I could see tin- man beckon to In-r. l-i I went to accused and asked what li 1 wanted with the girl. The aeeiised time [ 1 no reply, but hit her father under Hi I ear with his cleuVhed list, knocking Jiin ' down. Mrs. Uunbert stepped up to ai I cused and -said. "Would you strike tha. man. you coward?" Her father was ai elderly man. A crowd collected, and sin went* into the shop -again with he. father, who was assisted by Mr. McXeib The accused remained standing there. Cross-examined by Mr. Weston: Mrs. ! Litiibeit and wituess were asked io go l out, just to see if the man would inter I fere 'with her. When accused bcekonei. to her through Hie window, she wa: I by her father and mother in the shop j She could not say whether accused.hac j beeu drinking, but he behaved as tltougi f lie had been. He did not pull her lian j very hard, was a pull, not strok i iug. Her hair was haugjng down, iu

now. Emily Lambert, wife of Oorgc Lam bert, caretaker of the iiast End l''' l '' Station, said that on the night in quos tion she was standing outside McNeill's I window, talking to the previous witness. It was after the hotels closed. The accused, whom she had known for severa. years, came u]i to the girl and pulled liei hair. .She did not hear him say a:iy tiling. The girl went into the shop, ' and witness followed just afterwards. Accused changed his position, and stood by the door with his liands in his pock- >. ets beckoning the girl with his head. j She heard the girl complain to liei | lather, who told tihe girl to go outside f[ to see if the accused would interfere j! with her again. The latter was frightli fned, so witness said, "Ho on, I'll go j n-ith vmi'' <md thev went out of tin

with you, and they wont out oi tin shop together tow-arils witness' place on the other side of the street. Her evidence as to the actual assault corroborated that of the previous witness. When Crockett fell, she rushed over and helped to pick him up. Then she turned to accused and shook her fist in his lace. saying, "You cur! You'd strike a deli- , eatc -man like- that."' Accused made no reply, lie was the worse for liquor. Cross-examined: She had never heart], anything against accused's character, " except this little thing." She lr.ul 1 ways thought he behaved himself until that evening. 'She. and accused went If. school together, and she always recognised him when she met h'm. lie was verv tipsy that night, lie pulled tin gill's hair, not severely, hut as though merely to attract her'attention. She didn't think a man in his light senses would behave in such a fashion. Crockett and his wife could hardly have seen the accused sufficiently to judge whether he was drunk. Witness did not volunteer the information to them, for it v was not her business. 1 The S.M. said it was immaterial to go ■< into the question of the sobriety of ac- j cused at that time. { Eliza Crockett, wife of John Crockett. | said she remembered her daughter complaining to Mr. Crockett about the conduct of a man outside the shop. When Mrs. Lambert and witness' daughter went out of the shop, she and her husband went door and watched. Tliev went on to the footpath as though to cross to the Red House Hotel. The accused beckoned to the gill, and moved as though intending to f follow, saying something which witness could not catch. Her husband then stepped out on the footpath, and approached Unaccused, and spoke to him, asking, "What are vim saving to my daughter! or something to'that effect. Accused just doubled his lists and struck, her husband a blow under the. left ear, and he fell to the ground as if- dead. He was badly hurt. Blood was flowing from the mouth, he was unconscious and limp, as if lifeless. He was uiu'onscibus up till eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. lie was delirious right through the night, and at one time he got up and wandered outside into the garden. Dr. Hinckley attended him that night, and had been in attendance ever since. The husband was 50 years of age last .birthdav, and was delicate, having suffered from heart complaint for some six years past. Vp till that night lie had been able to work in his garden, thus deriving a livelihood. On that Saturday, and for a few days previous, he had been much better than usual. He had done no work .since, but in the past few days he had been able to supervise the work of the hoy in the garden. Accused was a perfect'stranger to her, and he was» standing quietly outside. There was nothing to attract attention to him. On the Wednesday following the assault I the accused eauie to see her. He wanted to <ee her husband, but he was too ill. The accused expressed his sorrow for what he had done. He was much agitated, and seemed almost unable to speak. Cross-examined: She was quite positive that the accused spoke to her daughter. She could not say whether he was drunk or sober. Her husband had declined to interfere ill the matter upon his daughter's complaint, as he had not seen auv offence himself. Mr. Weston: So instead of keeping your daughter away from this man. you actually sent her to meet him.

Witness: I don't look at it in that light, M,r. Weston. I think of what might have happened to a girl who had not her parents to look after her. Henry ISlaekmoro. chief cierk in the mail room at the Xew Plymouth Tost Office, stated that at about ten o'clock on the night in question he was standing by the pillar-box, nuar Cover Street, with a friend. His attention was attracted to accused, lie saw hint accost two young girls who were looking in the grocery window, but did not hear what he said to them. They seemed frightened, however, and ran into the store for protection. The ' Magistrate: Are the girls fa court? Witness: X,o, your worship. Continuing, he said he then saw the accused accost Miss Crockett, the first witness. ' The man was perfectly sober—as sober' as I am now. He might have had u glass of beer, or two glasses, hut he was sober—quite sober. I was unserving him for fully ten minutes." The S.M.: The best evidence we have of his sobriety is the force of the blow lie struck. To Mr. Weston: Witness was only six feet away from the accused. Dr. lilacklov, who had been called to attend Mr. John Crockett on the night of November 14th, and saw him a few minutes before midnight. When witness saw him he had just recovered from .1 faint, and was in a stale of extreme nervous excitability. There wa* a swelI ling on his left jaw. about Die size of half a mandarin. He complained of pain in the left jaw. and on the right side of the neck, and in (he shoulder, where bruises subsequently developed. Ho was hysterical, but not unconscious, and w.ievideutlv suffering from severe shock. iSergcant Ha.ldrell: Was the man's li'e in danger at (hat time? Witness: Yes, decidedly, and for forty ' eiL'ht to fifty-six hours afterwards. ITe} was confined to lied for eight days, and I was only now becoming aible to do a I little liirht work about (he garden. A single blow would have been quite suffi-l

fionl to cause tliß injuries to the neck, 1 and tlie bruises were the result of a lull. The blow was delivered about midway between thi! point and Die angle of the jaw, not under the ear. Crockett suf'Jored from chronic valvular heart disease, and the doctor thought it would be unwise for him to annual' in Court to ! give, evidence. To -Mr. Weston: In the ca.se of a man not sull'ering from heart disease Die ell'ccls of the blow would have been merely inconvenience, for a day or two. This was the case for the prosecution. '.Mr. Weston asked if the Magistrate was of opinion that this was a case for committal. Could it not be reduced to

v charge of common assault'; The Magistrate- said there was certainly a prima facie case to go before a jury. Actual bodily harm had been done, apart altogether from the state of the man's health. The charge was not of having caused ''grievous" bodily harm, but merely "actual" bodily har-in. The accused had .nothing to say i" insiver to the charge, and no evidence was oll'ered for the defence. He was then formally committed for trial, had being allowed in two sureties (if £SO > ■ncli and accused's own recognisance t,f Y tjl). Bail was immediately i'ortliI" fining.