Corpun file 6643

The Advertiser, Adelaide, 23 March 1956

Father To Punish Son

RENMARK, March 22. -- A charge of shopbreaking and larceny against a 17-year-old youth would be dismissed if his father punished him suitably, the magistrate (Mr. G.H. Walters) said in Renmark Juvenile Court today.

The defendant would have to be punished in the presence of the Renmark police sergeant who would have to approve its adequacy.

The father was told to administer the punishment before April 19 when the court would sit again to consider the case.

Corpun file 6643b

The News, Adelaide, 23 March 1956

Punishing will be secret

Mr. Walters, SM, who gave a father at Renmark the option of punishing his 17-year-old son or being dealt with by the court, has ordered that the punishment be kept secret.

The youth was charged with two counts of shopbreaking and stealing.

Mr. Walters, in Renmark Juvenile Court yesterday, said if the youth were punished by his father in the presence of a police sergeant, he would dismiss the charges against him.

"If this is carried out, it will act as a deterrent to other would-be lawbreakers," he said.

Renmark police said today it was almost certain that the father would punish his son, although there was no lawful obligation on him to do so.

It would probably be done at Renmark Police Station before April 19 -- the next sitting of the Juvenile Court in Renmark.