WIFE'S EVIDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 175, 26 July 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

WIFE'S EVIDENCE.

WITNESS AGAINST HUSBAND.

"IT WAS SO TERRIBLE."

A wife gave evidence for the prosecution in a murder charge against her husband at Barnet (Herts) Police Court. The husband was accused of murdering his se\'cn-rnonths-old baby. The wife said her husband had been devoted to her until this last baby. That was why it seemed so terrible that she had got to go against

The defending solicitor asked: "Who told you that you had got to give evidence? In all your experience have you heard of a woman giving evidence against her husbaud on a capital charge? Do you know to-day _ that you occupy an almost unique position?"

The Wife: I am sure what he did was not a wilful act.

The accused man , was Sidney Joseph Strand, aged 35, grocer, of Baron's Gate, East Barnet.

Found Baby Gasping

Mrs. Mabel Gertrude Strand, the wife, said she found the baby gasping. She called a neighbour," and a doctor was sent for.

"I asked my husband," said Mrs. Strand, "what he had done, and he said he had taken the baby by the ehoulders and must have shaken it too much. I did not question him any further because I was anxious to save the baby's life."

Mr. Vincent Evans (for the Public Prosecutor): Has your husband ever threatened the child, in any way in front of you?

Mrs. Strand: Yes. He has threatened to kill mc and the baby.

Mrs. Strand said that twice her husband had flicked a lighted candle over the child.

Replying to Mr. Alfred -W. Fryzer (for Strand), Mrs. Strand said that her husband had always been a loving father to the other children.

Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the Home Office . pathologist, said that the child had died from coma caused by hemorrhage round the brain. This, in his opinion, was caused by violent pressure.

Strand was remanded