A CURIOUS CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 16, 20 January 1926, Page 6

A CURIOUS CASE.

■ ' ■ —' * FITS OF AMJTESIA. REFORMATIVE DETENTION ], ' ORDERED. , The curious ea.se of a man who dll strange things in fits of amnesia was considered by Mr. Justice Stringer at tiie Supreme Court to-day. when Ernest William Gibbs appeared for sentence on: I a charge of arson, and four of break- | ing, entering and theft. Mr. N orthcroft,, I who said he had been instructed by the I brother whom prisoner had robbed, tali ' I the judge that the relatives did not, I ask that Gib'os be released. They appreciated the fact that it was dangerous for him to be at large. It was a curious fact that, after returning from the war, I the man had wandered away, apparj ently in a fit of amnesia. On many ; occasions when he was working as a. I coal and firewood carrier. Gibbs left the | horse and cart standing in a city street | and went home in a fit of absentj mindedness. The least amount of drink i affected him. Since August he had. ■ been, out of employment, idling about,,, and bad got into a desperate frame of. 1 mind. All the offences committed bore * I evidence of eccentricity. On a mantel- i shelf from which he stole things he left ■ I untouched a box containing money, and,., I though he took some articles from a ... ] box of jewellery, he left other valuables lin the box. Mr. Justice Stinger said the whole thing seemed to oe irrational. i The Crown Prosecutor said he had teen informed that the man suffered. I from post epileptic automatism, which; 1 was most dangerous. ! Mr. Xorthcroft stated that Dr. Murray could not say that epilepsy would 1 make him commit these acts. | in passing sentence of three years' i reformative detention, his Honor recommended the gaol authorities to ascer--1 tain the best institution to which to , send Gibbs. having regard to the state ;of his - health. i i ' =====