DEATH SENTENCES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 153, 30 June 1945, Page 7

DEATH SENTENCES

DISMISSAL OF APPEALS "UNSATISFACTORY WITNESS" O.C. SYDNEY, June 27. Appeals by two men under sentence of death for having shot at Dr. Reginald Stuart Jones with intent to murder were unanimously dismissed yesterday by the Court of Criminal Appeals. The two men are Alexander McDonald Jowett (known as "Scotty" McDonald) and Clifford Tasman Thompson (known as Cliffie Thomas). After the trial, Matron Frances Mary Lawson, who had given evidence against the men, swore on affidavit that Dr. Jones had told her the shooting was accidental. She said that, although she had told this to the police before the trial,' the fact had been suppressed by the Crown. "

Matron Lawson was questioned in detail by the three judges hearing the appeal, Mr. Justices Halse Rogers, Mr. Justice Maxwell and Mr. Justice Herron. She said she had made an affidavit in the office of Mr. P. N. Roach, solicitor. The affidavit had been written out for her, and she had given Mr. Roach to understand that the shooting was accidental. She "could not just exactly say what Dr. Jones had told her.

Mr. Justice Halse Rogers said that no Court could possibly a<:t on any charge based on the allegations made by Matron Lawson. "I have never seen a more unsatisfactory witness in the witness box," he added. Mr. Sheehan (for the accused) agreed that if he had had the opportunity of examining Matron Lawson before she had made the affidavit he would not have allowed her to make it.