Inspeotdr Prosser's statement that Balchin did not kick witness, nor push, him, was all a lie. He! confessed to stealing $400 after! having been questioned by De-tactives Yang and Woo for about an hour, and then they went} straight to Burkill Road. On re-j turning, the tall foreigner (Bal-chin) took him to "the beating room," and left when the short} foreigner (Gabbutt) came in later. He had made a mistake in saying Gabbutt was in the room when they arrived—in saying this he had confused the afternoon journey with the midnight one. Another mistake he made was in saying that Gabbutt spoke at the time the Chinese said ho would have to be tortured, and: told him to take his clothes off.
Where is the leather belt?
Counsel next asked.
Witness—At the police station.
Counsel—Is'nt this kind of tape, or cotton, belt the only one you! ever had?
Witness—Who says sot Counsel—I say se. When you weren't thinking yesterday, you referred to it as a piece of string, because it is simply a cotton thing.
The "beating, torture or other discomfort'? which witness suffered in the afternoon occupied about quarter of an hour. A considerable time elapsed before he was taken to Jessfield Road, and he wag mistaken in his first evidence that he had been taken away immediately, he said.
"How many times on February 5 did Gabbutt say he would kill you and call in the Tipao to take away your body?' Counse] next asked.
"I cannot remember," witness re plied. "He did so four er five times in the afternoon, and frequently at night."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.