SENTENCED TO DEATH.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16847, 29 May 1920, Page 8

SENTENCED TO DEATH.

GUNN FOUND GUILTY OF PONSONBY MURDER. "ABSOLUTELY CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE." (press association telegram.) AUCKLAND, May 28. Tho trial of the young man D«nnis Gunn, charged with having nvur ere Augustus Edward Braithwaite, late postmaster at the Ponsonay l ost Office, oTTUarcli 13th, was concluded beloro . -Mr Justice Oiapman at tho Supremo j Court to-day. ! One witness stated that ho had seen t-lie r.c u:ed cut.iJc the Pun ess Thc.itro at eight o'clock on tho night of tlio murder. Ailer further evidence, Mr J. I*. I Ueed K.C., addressed the jury oil behalf of tho accused, lie quoted from the opinion of the Chief Justice of ictoria in 1912. to t:-.e cfiect that tho theorv of iinger-prints was not- generally ac.eptcd by scientific men, a:v.i had not been sufficiently studied to enable its propositions to bo accepted as .icientiiic facts.' Counsel drew special attention to a remark by tho authority quoted that finger-pnut evidence savoured of mystery, in the present case this had been noticeable, ho said, experts repeatedly snymg that a certain similarity in prints would not ho appreciated by laymen. I*l© Cnief Justice's opinion, he remarked, was ruled by a majority of the Court, winch held that iinger-print evidence might be accepted. 'J aking the finger-prints as a whole, Mr lieed continued, the most that could bo said of them was that they perhaps pointed to tn® accused as tho author of tho imro-lnry. Even if it wore lie.d that tho prints on tho revolver were from accused's, hand, tlio most that could be concluded was "that he handled the weapon after it was cloaned,rfor the evidenco showed that it had been cleaned after it was last iircd. l 4 rom tho position of the print it was probable that the man who made it did so in putting tho weapon away. Passing to ■ the revolver print itself, Mr Reed aeclared that neither this print nor the ' one on ton of the cash box tray, which were alleged to be from _ the same finger, showed the scar which was apparent in accused's print, with which tho Crown sought to identify it. Tho explanation of the discrepancies given t by tho experts was that there was_ a blur, or that a piece of dirt liad intervened, or that tho man had been handling bricks, none of which went to increase a layman's confidence in tho system. Counsel pointed out a number o*f alleged similarities upon the enlarged prints produced in Court, and sub-; mitted that no similarity whatever on theso points was apparent to tho lay cye>. Mr J. C. Martin addressed the Court on j bohalf of the Crown. He said ho felt .•justified in saying that nothing J had been disclosed that was detrimental to; tho character or motives of any of the Crown witnesses. On the other hand, j he did not -wish to suggest that tho ac-1 cuscd's friends and relations, who had described his m-ovemonts, were to >>e distrusted because of their relation to Lho accused. It was only fair, however, to point out that it was <jbvious that tho interests of these witnesses lay in one particular direction. Dealing with other witnesses, counsel said that tho man who stated that ho saw the accused outside a. theatre shortly before 8 p.m. was obviously of a highly nervous temperament, and from thp way in which he gave his ovidence, it could readily he inferred that he would be vcy open to suggestions from other people upon' such sTmatter as the exact time ho saw the accused. VERDICT OF "GUILTY." The jury brought in a verdict of ( "Guilty." I Addressing the prisoner, his Honour f.aid he had been found guilty after a long trial, in whi?li the jury had shown , the" greatest care to see that he should | only be convicted on the most absolute and convincing evidence. That evi- ( dence, m his Honour's mind, was abso- i intely con°lu c ivo that tho accused murdered a worthy servant of tho State — Mr Braithwaite.

His Honour then assumed the Black cap and tossed the death sentence. In further remarks his Honour said the case had vindicated _ the fingerprints system of investigation and identification, if vindication were needed.