MURDER TRIAL.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20308, 6 August 1931, Page 16

MURDER TRIAL.

DEATH OP MRS JOHNSON. accused gives evidence. .IT.r.SS .'.SSOOUXIOX TXLEGBAiI.) AUCKLAND, August o. 1 jie hearing of evidence for the deduce in the case of George Rameka, who is on trial on a charge of murder.»g Mrs Gwendoline Johnson, was coniiriH''d to-day. Mmiene Brown, a Maori ganger, -aid that, lira Johnson liad corao to hib lodgings with Rameka and he •«'icu went to her flat. They seemed :a) behave "like man and wife." He .-aw llemeka give her £24, his windings at the races. The ambulance di'iver who tooic Rameka to the hospital said his sympi.oms were similar to the after-eifects ■)i' an epileptic iit. , Geon-e Graham, an authority on tiie .Maori race, said that they were very icalous of their racial pedigree. A Maori uho was called a, "nigger ' would 'f rc-ivo a mental shock and would see • lark." equivalent to. the European ■■wins red."

Accused Gives Evidence. Accused, lUmeka, then gave eri-it-iico through an interpreter. lie -aid that ho had three sisters ana Thirteen brothers, but only he and one M -:tcr were now alive. A. first cousin of his had killed her baby, another cousin at Waitara had" killed ner adopted child. Ho went to the war at •ho ago of fifteen, and was there over two vears- , , Rameka said that at the war he was digging trenches and also looking alter u ire entanglements in No Man's Land. Ho was gassed at Messines, and wiien !io returned to New Zealand he reived hospital treatment for war rounds. Sometimes he suffered liom depression, which seemed to darken •in outlook. He knew Mrs Johnson as Miss Driscoll. She told him that she was a well-to-do woman from England, rhat she came from Wellington and •vas engaged while there. The n* s night, ho mot her she told him that Mrs Kcesing, her landlady, was her aunt. After he and she had been toaether awhile he loved her, and sne responded. "When he pare her £-4 1 «:as arranged that the fact should not Tie nmde known to her family. Sne told him that she was waiting tor monev from her family's estate m Wellington, and would repay hnn in three months. . . Aecu«ed said that he used to visit Mrs Johnson every night when she was sick, and sometimes he stayed until one o'clock. He had often been alone with her for periods of un.to two hours. He wf>nb to the Ellerslio races and the Epsom trots with Mrs Johnson and her da tighter as her tana (unmarried husband). Threat of Suicide. The beginning of the trouble between them was at, the trots, when she asked him to get a taxi. He told her that he was "broke." She said that all the lovers she had had anything to do with had always taken her homo in comfort. The next day, in a fit of depression, he bought poison, contemplating suicide That night she told him Bhe did not want him any more, ana he asked why. She said it was because nei showed her up at the trots. He was "full of jealousy and temper," and threatened suicide. She said she did not care, and anyway he would not be game. Then the thought of his child came to him, and he decided to defer the act. - i. Accused said that next morning ne bought a knife because he thought the poison would not be enough, to take.his life. He intended to take Mrs Johnson's presence to prove that he was game enough to commit suicide. He drank some poison before he opened the door of her room. His throat and stomach were burning. Then, speaking in good English, the accused said: "She looked at me and •aid to me, 'What do you want here, you black nigeer?' At that instant I didn't know what I was doing. _■ I just simply went off my head. That" - is all. '

Cross-Examination. Cross-examined by Mr Meredith, the Crown Prosecutor, accused said after he first met Mrs Johnson he used to see her every jright. He did not know how strong the poison was, nor how many people the contents of the bottle he bought would kill. Ho thought of a knife after he reached home on the night before the tragedy. If the poison was not sufficient he intended to stab himself with the knife in the taxi-cab. He drank part of the, poison, at Mrs Keesing's, outside Mrs Johnson's door, fully intending to. drink the rest after he had had it out with her. Mrs Johnson was awake when he went in to. her room, and she spoke first. He did not remember seeing the knife after he put it in his pocket at the door. He did not remember driving back to Hepburn street or other incidents which witnesses had sworn to. He did not remember anything from-the time he was at Mrs Johnson's door fill he was in hospital. Medical Evidence. Dr. B. M. Beattie, who for 2D yeaTs was in charge of the Auckland Mental Hospital, said he. had formed the eonelusion that there was a probability of % minor epileptic condition in accused. Witness had gained the impression that there was a certain amount of mental instability. He found Maoris as a yule emotional and intensely sensitive. "I regard this man as of unstable mental condition." continued witness. "For years he has been suffering from strange sensations in bis head, with attacks of giddiness and a disturbance of his eyes. The man had been suffering from abnormal depression and was actively ituieidal. When he went into the room where the woman was, the depression beeame intense and he was suffering from a burning pain in the mouth and throat and stomach from the poison ho had taken. He was called by a name that all Maoris resent, and he got into an irresponsible maniacal condition. If be was in such maniacal state he could not know the nature and quality of his act." This closed the case for the defence. The Crown then called Dr. H. M. Buchanan, Superintendent of the Auckland Mental Hospital, who said Eameka ; >nd not given him any symptoms of loss ■-'£ memory or giddiness. In his opinion there was no justification for the theory that the accused was an epileptic. He did not think Eameka had rho loss of memory at the time of the tragedy he claimed to have. In witness's opinion the act in the bedroom was a conscious act. Corroborative evidence was given by other mental experts. The evidence was concluded to-night, aod the case will be finished to-morrow.