ASSAULT ON WIFE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 17, 31 October 1933, Page 7

ASSAULT ON WIFE

A MAN FOUND GUILTY.

AN AUCKLAND INCIDENT. (Per Press Association). AUCKLAND, October 30. The defence of insanity was set up at the trial to-day of John Shaw Gordon, a retired bricklayer, aged 68, on a charge that, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, he did actual bodily harm to his wife, Nellie. The Crown alleged that in the early morning of August.3.l Gordon attacked his wife with a hammer and then attempted to commit suicide.

The Crown Prosecutor said that in a case of this kind a wife might give evidence against her husband, but in New Zealand she could not be compelled to do so. In this case the wife would not be a witness.

Evidence was given on the lines of the Lower Court hearing. Counsel for the defence questioned medical witnesses to show that the accused's mentality might have been affected by a discharging wound which was found when he was examined.

The accused's son, aged 20, said that his father was of a peculiar disposition and seemed over-sensitive to noise. Dr. T. G. Short said he was satisfied that the accused was insane. He had a sense of grievance against his family and delusions of persecution. His condition was the result of chronic alcoholism, probably accentuated by the chronic suppuration of a sore on the hip. The accused might have known what he was doing when he attacked his wife, but witness did not think that he fully understood the significance of it.

Dr. H. M. Buchanan (superintendent of the Mental Hospital) said that he did not find any symptoms of insanity in the accused. There was nothing unusual about his mental condition for a man of 68 years. His peculiar behaviour consisted of foibles. Dr. G. M. Tothill corroborated Dr. Buchanan's evidence. Addresses by counsel were heard this afternoon.