DEATH OF NATIVE IN NEW GUINEA

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 11

DEATH OF NATIVE IN NEW GUINEA

JUDGE CRITICISES REDUCTION OF CHARGE (Received August 20, 12.5 a.m.) RABAUL (New Guinea), Aug. 19Chief Judge Wanliss to-day found Lucidius Zimmer not guilty of illegally killing a native. Zimmer, who is attached to the Catholic mission in New Guinea, was originally charged with shooting the native, but the charge of murder had been reduced by the Crown law officer to a charge of manslaughter. The judge scathingly criticised the officer and said that he ha*t deprived the court of the power of considering whether the accused v. _s guilty of wilful murder or murder, leaving the court to deal only with a charge of manslaughter. PRIEST’S PRISON TERM REDUCED BURNED DOWN LUTHERANS’ HOUSES (Received August 19, 11.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, August 19. The High Court on an appeal by a New Guinea mission priest, Anthony Cranssen, reduced his sentence from five years’ imprisonment to six rrrbnths’ imprisonment, to date from May 1. A majority of the court held the- sentence to be out of all proportion to the seriousness of the offence. [A message from Rabaul on May 8 said that Cranssen, a Roman Catholic priest, pleaded guilty to a charge of burning down Lutheran native teachers’ houses and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The judge said that Cranssen had besmirched the mission and had been a traitor to his church, his bishop, and his coworkers.]