DISPUTE OVER DOG
ALLEGATION OF ASSAULT. MAORI AWARDED DAMAGES. In a civil case heard before Mr 11. P. Lawry, S.M., yesterday afternoon in the Masterton Magistrates’ Court. Mrs Te Uru Waaka was awarded £8 damages and £5 Ils costs in an action against a well-known native, Wilson R. Paku, Homewood. Mr J. Macfarlane Laing appeared for Mrs Waaka and Mr S. V. Gooding for the defendant.
The statement of claim stated that Mrs Te Uru Waaka was the owner of a small fox terrier which she found buried on Paku’s property. The defendant admitted that he had shot the dog, which was valued at £3. Mrs Waaka went to Paku and asked him. for an explanation of the shooting of her dog. whereupon the defendant assaulted her by picking up a Pomeranian dog which the plaintiff had with her and striking her about the head and shoulders with the dog and also with his fists, whereby the plaintiff suffered injuries, pain and suffering necessitating medical attention and her being confined to her bed for several days. She had to come to Masterton to see a doctor and incurred a .medical fee of 10s and a taxi fare of £2 10s. Plaintiff also claimed the sum of £lO for pain and suffering or alternatively for damages for such assault. Also she made a demand upon the • defendant for an apology for his conduct and for payment of expenses and compensation, but Paku refused to do so, and by his solicitor while he admitted shooting the dog, denied assault upon the plaintiff. The sum of £l6 and costs was the amount sued for.
The hearing of the case occupied four hours.
The defence was a general denial of plaintiff’s allegations and it was alleged that Mrs Waaka’s injuries were received at the hands of Mr Anaru (Paku’s uncle, for whom Mrs Waaka was housekeeper).
Mr Lawry said that the fact of Paku seizing the Pomeranian puppy from Mrs Waaka’s arms by force constituted an assault in itself. In finding for Mrs Waaka, Mr Lawry observed that had a criminal action been taken he would have found for Mrs Waaka on that ground.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 August 1941, Page 7
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360DISPUTE OVER DOG Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 August 1941, Page 7
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