Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 16. 12th July 1973

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

In the Lower Hutt Magistrate's Court last Tuesday nine young men pleaded guilty before Mr Patterson S.M. to having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. In each case the prosecution evidence stated that the girl had been a willing party, in almost every case the acts had taken place at the girl's explicit invitation. Each case was the same, the defendant claiming that they had thought the girl to be 16 or more offering no other explanation and being subsequently fined $50 and court costs $5.

In one case Mr Patterson was not satisfied with the expression on the defendant's face. "Do you think this is amusing?" he asked. The defendant prudently denied that this was his opinion.

But Mr Patterson was not satisfied. "I can hasten to assure you that I don't find this amusing." He stopped for a second and suddenly shouted at the defendant, "What do you think this law was put in the statutes book for?"

"Dunno Sir."

"Naar!! And you don't bother to find out either! It was put on the books to save young girls from contamination. I'll tell you something of the history of this law. From 1870 to 1900 young girls were sent from England and sold in France. There's a lot of literature written about it, and this law exists to prevent young girls from being sold."

The young worker was silent, probably wondering what on earth this had to do with a promiscuous 13-year-old in New Zealand.

Mr Patterson continued: "And now you get into this with your filth! The best thing that could happen to you would be to have to pay maintenance and support of a child." — Fined $50 and costs.

It seems possible that the girl was in need of some help and attention. One of the defendants told us later that she kept "a notebook", containing at least 40 names. Whether a response to the invitation of such a girl should be accepted may certainly be questionable. But the question of whether it has anything to do with 19th Century white slave traffic is nothing less than ridiculous.