ASSAULT ALLEGED.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1922, Page 6

ASSAULT ALLEGED.

A SERIOUS CHARGE. CASE FOR SUPREME COURT. A man of apparently about 3a years of age, whose name was given as Jack Dix, appeared before Messrs. H. R. Cattley and T. Furlong, J.’sP., in the New PlymoiHfh Court yesterday on a charge .of indecently assaulting a little girl of (eight years. Further counts of common (aasault and the theft of eightpence ’ from the girl were also listed. Accused ’•had been arrested by Constable Parkinson on the 18th inst., the date when the offence was alleged to have been com- ; mitted. The police proceeded with the hearing of the indecent assault charge. The prosecution was conducted by .Detective Sergeant Cooney, who stated Dix ; followed the occupation of chef at one ■of the New Plymouth hotels. On the ‘ 18th inst., about 5 o’clock, he was in f Devon Street. The little girl, who lived • with her parents in Gaine Street, was 'sent by her mother to a baker’s shop to get a loaf of bread. This was about 4.30. While the girl was standing outside the baker’s shop, accused caught her by the band and 4old her to come along with him. Dix took the girl into a confectionery shop and bought chocolates. They then walked up the street past the post office, Dix holding the girl by the hand. At Dawson Street they turned off to the right. Accused advised the girl that if anyone asked her she was to say he was her uncle. Dix took the girl dow® to the esplanade, where the offence was alleged to have occurred. As the result of something he heard, Constable Parkinson, who was going off duty, followed the man and the child, and found them amongst the trees near the fountain. Dix was kissing the girl. Evidence was given by the girl’s • mother and the child, the latter idenI tifying the accused. In the course of a number of questions, accused suggested to the girl that she could have told the people in the lolly shop that he was a stranger. •On the witness making no reply, the Bench remarked that probably the child was too nervous to tell anyone. Accused, through the detective, asked ■if the girl knew whether he was drunk or sober. The witness replied that accused was all right. Constable Parkinson detailed following accused and the girl from the lolly shop to the corner of Dawson and Hine Street. He lost sight of them there for a few seconds, and then he discovered Dix and the little girl among the triangle of trees on the esplanade. He told accused that he was going to arrest him, and also called two men who were passing to observe the position of the girl, who was lying on the ground. On the way to the police station, accused wanted the constable to let him go, and offered a ten shilling note and two packets of cigarettes. Dix was under the influence of liquor, but by no means drunk. The distance from the footpath to the spot where he found the accused and the girl was 45 feet. At tl» gaol on Friday, accused was charged with the major count, but made no reply. . In reply to questions from Dix, the constable said accused was not drunk. He could not tell whether he was sane or insane. A. L. Gilbert, Leach Street, deposed that he was passing along the esplanade on the road from work on the 18th inst. when he was called by the constable. He noticed the child lying on the ground. When the constable told Dix he would be arrested, accused said “Hold on.” Answering cross-examination, witness told accused he did not appear to be drunk when he walked away with the constable. Accused, on being formally charged, pleaded not guilty, and was committed for trial to the Supreme Court at New Plymouth on May 16.

The other charges were withdrawn by the police. Accused applied for bail, which was granted on the following terms: —Accused £lOO, and one surety of £2OO, or two of £lOO each.