MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27058, 5 June 1953, Page 11

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

ACCUSED GUILTY ON LESSER COUNT

JURY RECOMMENDS • MERCY

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 4. A Supreme Court jury today found William Matthew Tierney, aged 25, a butcher, not guilty of manslaughter but guilty on an alternative charge of assault causing actual bodily harm. The jury recommended mercy. Tierney was remanded, on bail, for sentence. The charges arose from the death of Eruera Kaka, aged 24, a labourer, who lived at the same house as the accused. Accused said in evidence that he hit Kaka a few times when he found him with Mrs Tierney. It was a fair fight. Later at home, said Tierney he accused Kaka of committing adultery with Mrs Tierney. The accused claimed that Kaka grinned and admitted it. The accused said he became wild and gave Kaka another hiding. Kaka fell to the floor, and he left him there, intending to give him another hiding in the morning. He then told Kaka’s father that he and his son could get out of the house. He did not say ne had fixed Kaka. He thought he was all right.

~ Dr. F. J. Cairns, a pathologist, said that Kaka’s death was a result of a subdural hemorrhage after a severe blow on the head. It could have been caused by a blow with a weapon or a fall on a hard surface.