SHOCKING ILL-TREATMENT OF A CHILD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1933, 22 August 1889, Page 4

SHOCKING ILL-TREATMENT OF A CHILD.

Cheistchuech, Aug. 19. At the police court to-day the man Abbott and his wife, charged with illtreating and starving the child Esther Powdritch, were brought up on remand. A great crowd gathered in and around the court, and the prisoners would probably have been hooted if not actually hustled, but that the police had taken precautions and conveyed them very early to the court. The child Powdritch was also present. The week which has elapsed since the case was first discovered, has made a wonderful difference in her appearance. In spite of the great improvement, however, due to, good food and care, one.witness who had been accustomed to see her every day up to the time she went to Abbotts’, swore be had much difficulty to recognise her. According to his graphic if somewhat' colloquial version of the case the child now looks “ a regular old woman .and knocked all to pieces.” Godfrey, who originally adopted the child, deposed that she was always strong and healthy, and of a lively disposition. He and Abbott had a mutual written agreement when the latter took charge of her. Two months ago Abbott wrote saying he wished ’him to take the child back again, but he ; considered a bargain once made, made for ever, threw the letter into the fire, : and took no further notice of the request, Adam Bloor, the same witness who had been hurdly able to recognise Esther, said that for some time he had suspected Abbott of keeping the child a prisoner in the house, as, he never saw her playing with accused’s children as formerly. Esther Powdritch, 13i years of age, herself swore that since the Abbotts removed to their last dwelling place she had been constantly maltreated »nd starved, and had been kept as much as three days without food as punishment for not getting on quickly with her work in the morning. Her work consisted in nursing the children, scrubbing, washing, and cleaning the stove. Her food was generally wheaten meal, sometimes with milk but oftener without. She had never had bread and butter, tea, vegetables, pudding or meat. When kept without

food Mrs Abbott tied her up, sometimes twice a week in a locked room, while Abbott, who knew nothing of this, was away at work. She was beaten nearly every day by Mrs Abbott with a stick, for being slow at her work. It appears Abbott never illtreated the child, but once threatened “ If once he lifted his hand to her she would never complain again.” Also that he knew the sort of food on which she lived, though he was ignorant, of the beating and tying up. In trying to tell the story of how she made her escape to some neighbors, named Wyatt, to obtain food after three days starvation, the child became dazed, and when describing how the woman Abbott on her return plunged her head in a bucket of water, and kept it there, burst out crying, This piece of cruelty also took place during the absence of of Abbott, and he was also out of the way, according to the child, when the wife pulled a handful of hair out of her scalp. Mr Fisher's cross-examination did very little to shake the evidence in chief given by the child; in fact, up to the adjournment of the court, the principal new fact elicited was that at times when the Abbotts had visitors, they gave her the same kind of food as they ate themselves., An attempt to show that the kair came out through disease, and that the bruises were the result of falls was unsuccessful. An admission was also got from the poor little creature, who burst out crying from time to time, that she had stolen a plateful of cakes; and some pickles, and eaten them, as she bad a packetjof pirns insignia seeds, because she was starving. Mrs Wyatt, a neighbor of the Abbott’s, to whom the child bad fled for food, told how Esther had come to her for food, thin and starved looking, and eaten ravenously; how she took her back and told Abbott that she looked more like a ghost than a living being; how she offered to take her away, and how next morning, when she went to the house again, she heard Mrs , Abbott scolding and saying the child ought to be scourged and burnt for running away, and telling lies to her (Mrs Wyatt). A. C. De Renzi, Resident Surgeon at Christchurch Hospital: The girl was admitted on the 12th inst. I saw her immediately on her admission and examined her carefully. On admission she weighed Sst 121 b with her clothes on and her boots off. I found her in a very weak and emaciated condition. Her face was very pale, the cheek bones protruding very much. On examining her head I found two bald patches. The patch on the right side of the head was about 2iin in diameter. At the back of the head there was a patch about the size of a .shilling, and a skin eruption on the scalp. I examined her body and found it to be very thin, all the bones being very prominent. At the upper part of the back was a darkish discoloration of the skin. On examining the arm I found evidence of the> same discoloration, somewhat extensive. There was the same discoloration at the back of the forearm. On examining the legs I found the knees and shins were discolored. To-day the child was weighed without boots and she weighed 4st 51b, her height being 4ft 4iin. On examining the internal organs I found no indications of disease either in the lungs or heart, and the kidneys were"' perfectly healthy. Dr Stewart attended to the case and examined her. I heard the evidence of the girl as to her being starved. The condition I found her in was quite consistent with the truth of her statement that she had been kept three days without food. I heard her evidence as to beating with the stick. In my opinion the marks do not bear this. out. The blood, was in such a state that a very small injury indeed would produce discoloration. The two bald patches were quite consistent with the-statement that Mrs Abbott pulled out the girl’s hair. At the same time in the state of the scalp it-would require very little force to do this.

In cross-examination the witness said he believed if the child had not been brought away and attended to the result would have been fatal in a few weeks, “ Dr Stewart and Dr Syraes gave evidence of a similar character. R, W. Meers produced photographs of the child when first tsken from the Abbotts’.

The aocussed were committed for trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court at Christchurch, and bail was fixed at two sureties of £l5O each and themselves in £3OO.

The proceedings then terminated. The prisoners were removed in a cab to tho depot, followed by a crowd of people, who hooted and hissed heartily.