Nose Bitten Off: Damages
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
£2,200
11/riSFORTUNE recently befell Nurse Mahoney, daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Mahoney—once well-known and esteemed in Eastern Papua, and called “the Queen of Sud-Est.”
Mrs. Mahoney, now over 80, lives in Bathurst, N.S.W., and her daughter there conducts a private hospital. Nurse Mahoney kept two green New Guinea parrots, which she had had for several years. On April 29, 1936, a nine-days-old baby, while lying in a cot on a verandah, was attacked: its nose and three fingers were bitten off. No one saw the attack; but it was evident the child was badly mutilated by a b rd. The parrots were 'loose on the verandah, and there was a wild magpie in the yard.
Long litigation ensued. A jury found Nurse Mahoney guilty of negligence, and awarded £2,200 damages.