RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1525, 14 December 1886, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Gkraldin ; Monday, Deo. 13, 1886 (Before H.mW. Moore and E. H. Pear- .. point, Esqrs., J.P.’e) , assaults.. James Wilcocks was charged with having assaulted Emily Bates and Elizabeth Dalton on the evening of Sunday, Dec. sth. The accused pleaded not guilty* , , Emily Bates, sworn,.said :I, remember the evening of the 6th inat. 1 left church about ten minutes past eight .wjth my-cousin, Elizabeth Dalton, and walked straight down town towards home. When we were at the corner we saw someone walking down the > road before us, and. when he got toi the/ Waihi riverbed he stopped wheia we were i'ist where the rokd is narrow, owing to the broom growing close on each side. He turned round and met us there. He threw one arm round my neck and the other round my waist. Ho almost choked me, and whom I tried to get away he struck me once, and my cousin twice. To Constable Willoughby : I am quite sure prisoner is the person that did it. Ha did not speak one word to us. I did not know him by bis face, as his hat was over bis face. When we tried to pull his bat off he struck us in the face. I got ji way bjf polling away from him. He then hit my cousin in the face, and pulled off our hats and threw them on the road, and threw stones at us when We got away from him. To the Bench : I recognise him by his form and walk, and by his clothes, I nip quite sure I could not be ; mistaken, ■Elizabeth Dilton.coiroborated + he evidence of the previous witness, and further stated that she had identified him on Sunday, December 12th,' when he was ar. rested. ■'' i! Richard Coombs, a lad of 14 years of age, sworn, said 1,1 remember the, evening of the sth imt. Isatf prisoner that evening at the stone, bridge;. I spoke to him, and 1 aslted : , Mni if. - ' he was coming back. Hesiifd ‘‘ No,” but'that he going further down.': Noah Sherratt was with me at the time. 1 ; To the'BSnch : I saw him go further down th 6 mam road. Constable Willonghby, sworn, said : On the evening of December 12th I was coming down the town, and met these young ladies coming out of the chapel. I had previously seen'prisoner go uf the town, dressed as described. I, was standing under Riordan’s verandah. when prisoner and four or five others came down, and stood at Maslin’* corner. Miss Dalton immediately identified him, and said “That oneagainst the hedge is the one,” I walked across and brought him over, and asked him if he knew I ho girls. He said be knew one of ihem— Miss Bates. I had hold of : his arm, and he was trembling very much, and his heart was palpitating violently. He said he had not been down the town further th-m Dunlop’s corner on the night of the assault. Miss Bates identified him without my speaking; my back was turned Rewards the boys when she pointed him out. Prisoner, upon being asked what he had to aSy, stated that on the night in questj&the was standing opposite Maslin’s /corner when Ihe young women passed? He stopped there for about half-an-hour after they had passed. He then went down as far as the stone bridge. When he got there be saw Dick Coombs and Noah Shearatt. He told them he was going down to Chapman s, and he went. In about half an hour’s time he came, back again, and went across the riverbed with his brother. The girls left the ebrner over half an hour before he did, £nd he never saw them. Emily Bates, re-examined, said that chipel usually came out at eight o’clock. She stopped to the prayer meeting that night, and it was about ten minutes past eight when.they left the prayer meeting. It would take about three-quarters of an hour to walk to the crossing. Heard the statements made by the prisoner. Saw some persons pass them in the street,'but did not know who they were. OHy spoke to a young man named Fleming. Richard Coombs, recalled, said he saw the young women pass on the night in question. They went down first and prisoner went down about ten minutes afterwards. He was quite sure he saw the young ladies pass before Wilcocks wentdowo. Tbb prisoner called William Fleming, who m answer to prisoner, said : You were at the corner when they went ilowo on,the'evening of the otli. I just came forward-and you came up behind, i stood there as the young ladies went past, Fred Woffenden wag with me, nobody •lie. ' ' The Bench said they would like some , more evidence to connect the prisoner with the case. They would adjourn the Court for an hour to allow of another witness being brought. The Court having resumed, Constable Willoughby called -rM- ; *Uh*P maD » who stated that he remembered the night of the stb inst., and that prisoner was not at his house. Prisoner explained that when he spoke of having gone down to Chapman’s he meant as far as there on the road. 'The Bench accepted this explanation. Chapman continued: I know the stone biidge, and the crossing at the river, Supposing one started to walk from the stone bridge, and another went through my place by the river-bed to the crossing there would be a difference of about five or; six, minutes if they both walked at the ■erne pace.

To the Bench; T 6 he ahead the person going down the river-bed would have to make good use of his time to gain five or sis minutes. It is not a straight line ; There are a good many angles and gullies, and it is pretty rough walking. I reckon one could get to about Barclay’s cm nor while the other got to the crossing. To it would be fair walking. The Bench having retired for a short time decided to put the two young women in the witness box again, to swear to the identity of the prisoner. This whs done, both swearing most emphatically that they had n 5 doubt in their own minds as to his identity. The Bench stated that they bad quite made up their minds as to his being the boy who had committed the assault, and they had also made up their minds to make such an example of him as to cause it to be a lesson to .him, and to boys of bis class in the future. They were determined to put a stop to such larrikinism. H> would be sent 1“ gaol for one month. This being all the business the Court rose.