ATTACK ON WIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 256, 30 October 1933, Page 8

ATTACK ON WIFE.

ELDERLY HUSBAND. _____ • ASSAULT CAUSING BODILY HARM. BEFENCE PLEADS INSANITY. "All that I have got to say is that I'm sorry I did not make a better job of it and get myself off the face of the earth." This passage from a statement alleged to have been made to a detective by John Shaw Gordon in the Auckland Hospital, following the admission of his wife and himself with serious injuries, was quoted by Mr. Hubble, for the Crown, at the Supreme Court this morning, when Gordon was charged that on August 30, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, he did "actual bodily harm to his wife, Nellie Gordon. There were alternative charges of assault so as to cause bodily harm and common assault against Gordon, and in addition one of attempted suicide.

A retired bricklayer living at 71, Grange Road, Mount Eden, Gordon is 68 years of age. He pleaded not guilty. The Crown alleged that in the early morning of August 31, Gordon attacked his wife with a hammer and, then attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. The charge was heard before Mr. Justice Smith, and Mr. Rudd appeared for the accused. Son Awakened at s a.m. The accused and his wife, said Mr. Hubble, lived together at Grange Road, while their son lived in a bach at the back of the house. The evening before the occurrence the eon brought his mother home from Grafton Road, where she had been visiting friends, and he had previously seen his father in bed. About 5 o'clock the next morning he was awakered by someone knocking at the door of the bach and found it was his mother, who beckoned him to come into the house. There he found his father in bed with a wound in his throat. As he was going for a doctor, the son observed that his mother's hair was matted with blood. Later, with the doctor, he found a bloodstained hammer in the garden In his mother's room a razor with bloodstains was discovered. Evidence would be given by a police constable who was called to the house, when the constable asked Gordon who had inflicted the injury to the throat, Gordon replied, "I did it myself, and made a • hell of a mess of it." To Detective-Sergeant McHugh, who interi viewed him at the hospital, accused admitted that he ,had wounded himself with the razor, and said he was sorry he had not made a better job of it. Cautioned concerning his wife's injury, Gordon replied to the detective, continued Mr. Hubble: "Well, there she is, and here am I. It does not take much to find out who inflicted them." Wife Not a Witness. "It was almost obvious who was responsible for the injuries to both people, and the position is made clear by accused's admission to the medical men and the police," said Mr. Hubble. He added that in a ease of this kind a wife might give evidence against her husband, but in Xew Zealand she could not be compelled to do so. In this instance the wife would not be a witness. "You know the defence being submitted is that of insanity?" said Mr. Rudd, when he rose to cross-examine Dr. John Dreadon, who had given evidence of attending the' accused and his wife on the morning of the occurrence. Counsel then questioned the doctor concerning a discharging wound which had been found in accused. This, said the doctor, the accused had told him he had had since an operation four or five years previously. , Mr. Rudd: Would this condition have any affect on the health of accused? —Yes, it would affect him prejudicially. Is it reasonable to suggest that it would also affect his mentality prejudicially ?—Yes. Peculiar Disposition. Maurice John Gordon,, aged 20, gave evidence in accord with Mr. Hubble's opening. Cross-examined, he said that his father had a peculiar disposition. No one in the house could make any noise at night or whenever he was home. He seemed oversensitive to noise. As an instance, he objected to conversation at table. Further evidence was given by Constable F. Belcher and Detective-Sergeant McHugh. The latter, after detailing accused's reply to him. as related above, said that accused added, "I know nothing else to say, and you can go right ahead down there, because I don't care if they hang me." This concluded the case for the Crown. "The defence is that of insanity—that is, that at the time /the act was committed accused was in such a condition as Ito make him irresponsible," said Mr. Rudd.

"Accused Insane." Dr. T. G. Short, physician in nervous and mental diseases, said that he was satisfied that accused was insane. At times he had emotional outbursts which made him irresponsible for his acts. There was general deterioration of his personality. He had a sense of grievance against other njembers of his family and society in general, and had delusions of persecution. '"He is undisturbed by the seriousness of the charge and does not appear to realise that he has acted in a most brutal way," said the witness. "His mental condition is the result of chronic alcoholism and is probably accentuated by the chronic suppuration of the sore oil his hip. At. the- time of the act, in my opinion, I think lie may have known what he was doing, but I do not think that he understood fully the significance of it." His Honor: Assuming he did it, what do you make of his throwing the hammer away into the garden ? Witness: I don't know that that has any special significance.His Honor: Would it not indicate some objective connected with it, and that therefore he had some knowledge of right and wrong? Witness: He must do something with it. When Mr. Budd pointed out that there was no evidence of concealing the hammer, his Honor said that was the inference. "No Symptoms of Insanity." Dr. H. M. Buchanan, superintendent of the Auckland mental hospital, stated that he had examined the accused and did not find any symptoms of insanity. Mr. Hubble: Do you think he understood the nature of the act and whether it was right or wrong? Witness: I think so. There were signs of alcoholism and considering the age of accused a certain amount of mental disorder of a slight degree might be expected, but it had not progressed beyond that. There was nothing unusual about accused's mental condition for a man of 68.

Mr. Rudd: There is some evidence of peculiar behaviour. What would you say of that? Witness: I would criticise them as foibles. Dr. G. M. Tothill, senior assistant medical officer at the mental hospital, stated that h© could find no signs of insanity in the accused. In his opinion Gordon was quite sane and was so at the time of the occurrence. This concluded the evidence. Accused was found guilty of assault, causing bodily harm and attempted suicide. He was remanded for sentence until Wednesday.