A DUNEDIN OUTRAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 April 1917, Page 2

A DUNEDIN OUTRAGE.

MENACE TO SOCIETY. Mr. Bartholomew, S.M., heard in Dunedin oil' Tuesday afternoon last a charge against the girl Martha Graham, of having assaulted Edith Margaret Asher ;(a#ed two years and 11 months) causing actual bodily harm. .The child, it will be lemembered, was found in a shockingly disfigured condition in the bush at the top,of a hill in the North-East Valley. ji Kclith Margaret Asher (the mother) sajd that at about 2.30 p.m. on March ;ip.the child was missing. An hour later witness went in search* of her. She could not; find her, and meeting the accused 'asljed her if she had .seen the child. The accused said the child had been playing iwltji Ronnie Kirby. The last time witthe child she had long hair; 'it ,was now cropped short. Her husband later went in search, and at about 5.30 !p.m';, brought the child home. Her long ]hajr-,liad been cut off, there were bruises air over her head, and a red mark round ,her neck as if an attempt had been made •to 'strangle it. The child had not yet recovered. She always thought it was joining, and screamed at night, Garnet Asher, husband of the :preyious witness, described how they found the child, her face covered with bipod. He and the constable saw the .accused, and the latter asked her if she had seen the child. She denied it, but afterwards admitted having cut' off her hair and hit her about the face. The following morning witness and the constablo made a further search, and found a rope and a basket containing a bit of the child's hair.

Irene Mercer, a child, said she saw the accused leading Mrs Asher's child along Miller, street and up Casino's Hill, towards the bush. About an hour later she saw accused run down the hill without the child, and in an excited state.

Dr. Evans, who examined the injured child the day after the outrage, described the wounds and bruises, one of the former an inch and a half deep. One bruise appeared to have been caused by a stick. There was a circular band of bruising well marked at the front of the neck and very fine at the 'back, with minute hemorrhages. This was above ■the level of the thyroid cartilage (the Adam's apple). He saw the child three days ago. She was nervous and irritable and complained of rain. He had had accused under observation, and was of opinion that her homicidal attack upon Edith Margaret ABher was the result of some morbid impulse or -arose of an halueination of .hearing, and at the time she was not responsible for her action. Hor intelligence was somewhat under the normal; she was somewhat dull and sudden, but showed signs of cunning. She was, however, perfectly able to understand the difference between right and wrong, and was, in his opinion, fitto plead, although she was certifiable under the Mental Defectives Act. She was one who required observation, careful training, and restraint for a consider, able number of years, as from her family and personal history she was a menace to society at large. It was very probable, in fact certain, .that sooner or later such an attack would be repeated, but with more serious consequences. Elh.a Dinah Stedman, who had the accused as servant (licensed to hor from the Industrial School), said she had never had to complain of the girl's conduct. She was kind and thoughtful with the children, and witness had' never seen her out of temper. She had a failing, which witness would describe as kleptomania, of which witness had been warned by the authorities. Constable McEntce, who interviewed the accused, said that she admitted she had picked up the child in the street. She also said that she- clipped the child's hair "with scissors, which she afterwards threw away in the bush. Witness asked her how she had made the marks on the child's forehead, and she said "With my fists." Witness asked why, and she held down her head and would not answer.

Mrs Stedman (recalled) stated that accused said she did not like the child Asher, and had threatened to give her a thrashing for calling her names. The girl, upon being asked> plead in the usual way, whispered something, but his Worship said this was a ease in which (under section 33 of the Mental Defectives Act) he should refuse to take a plea of guilty, and would commit the accused to the Supreme Court, where she would probably be dealt with as a criminal lunatic. She was accordingly committed for trial.