HEARING OF MURDER CHARGE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27213, 3 December 1953, Page 12

HEARING OF MURDER CHARGE

Plea Of Insanity Raised By Defence

SECOND DAY OF TRIAL AT GREYMOUTH

(From Our Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH. December 2. | The trial of Harry Whiteland, aged . 56. a labourer, on a charge of murder- ■ ing Dorothy Rose Haldane, aged 19.: at Reefton on August 27 was continued in the Supreme Court today. When the Crown case concluded; counsel for the defence said that the , defence was one of legal insanity in i that accused was in such a state of! mind at the time that he did not know what he was doing. The accused, in evidence, denied any knowledge of the shooting at the Reefton railway station. His evidence was followed by that of Dr. R. H. Quentin Baxter, of Christchurch, who discussed the effects of epilepsy on a sufferer's actions. The Crown obtained permission to call medical evidence in rebuttal, and this will be continued when the Court resumes tomorrow. Mr Justice McGregor is presiding. Accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. He is represented by Mr E. B. E. Taylor, of Christchurch, and with him Mr C. R. McGinley (Greymouth). Mr A. W. Brown, of Christchurch, is conducting the Crown case, and with him Mr A. M. Jamieson, of Greymouth. Lay Down in Front of Engine Daniel Andrew Stewart, engine driver, of Reefton, said the accused lay down in front of an engine he was driving after waving his arms and calling three times for witness to drive on. The engine was then stationary. Accused then lay prone across the rails until removed in the ambulance. The engine was stopped just as accused jumped from the platform. The engine would then be about two feet away from accused. Elizabeth Jane Kearns, a widow, of Reefton, said she had known accused for some 25 years, and he had called fairly regularly at her home. Accused always appeared well and normal. Witness had known accused to take slight fits and he had one a fortnight before the shooting. It was at the pictures, but he soon came out of it. To Mr Taylor witness said accused had been having turns since his return from New Guinea. Witness did not think accused knew what he was doing when he had such turns. Witness knew accused neither drank nor smoked. Constable Norman Birss. of Reefton, detailed remarks by the accused after the stomach pump had been used on him. Sergeant O. D. Wilkes, crossexamined by Mr Taylor, said accused appeared unconscious when lying on the line. Witness tried his left eye by lifting the lid, and there was no response. Accused was quite limp. Ronald Stuart Smith, a detective-

sergeant, of Greymouth, said that when he visited the hospital he saw accused, who said he was all right, but a bit hazy and that he did not know whether it was Wednesday or Thursday. Accused was that night at 9.15 o’clock taken to the police station at Reefton, where he was charged with murder. To Mr Taylor the witness said the accused did not impress him as being genuine. Detective Noel W. Wylie, of Greyxnouth, gave corroborative evidence. Accused, he said, appeared to get very excited and he formed the same opinion as the previous witness, that it was put on. That concluded the Crown case. Mr Taylor, for the defence, said that he proposed to call evidence. “The Crown,” he said, “has told you how Whiteland did it, but it has not told you why he did it. The defence will endeavour to show you why he did it.” The Crown earlier defined legal insanity, which said that a man was not to be held responsible for any act if at the time he was found to be suffering the effects of a mental disease and was incapable of understanding what he was doing or did not know that what he was doing was wrong Whiteland, said Mr Taylor, was unfortunately an epileptic, and it would be advanced that when he shot Miss Haldane, he was in such a state he did not know what he was doing. Medical evidence would be adduced in support of such a claim. Accused's Evidence The accused,' ’ in evidence, said he was subject to epileptic fits. The first was in 1941. He had had numerous fits since and had been treated by Dr. Logan, Dr. Bird, Dr. Baxter, and others for the complaint for some eight to 10 years. He got on all right with Miss Haldane, and had known her all her life. There was no quarrel over the lighting of fires. Deceased asked him about lighting the fire and witness said he would do it later. Park had told him his rent had gone up 6d a week, and witness said then “he was finished.” Witness was annoyed, he said, on a matter of principle, as he used all his own utensils. He did no more work after that and went straight down to the hut. He did not remember anything more till he woke up at the hospital. There were two men at the foot of his bed and one said, “That’s Darkie, from Waiuta.” Witness produced a series of letters written to Dr. Baxter. To Mr Brown, accused said he first had a fit while in a gold claim with his partner, Charlie Edwards, a diver, who went for assistance. He did not know what happened to him. People had told him he was “just a little violent.” struggled, and they had put him to bed. He had done nothing else, so far as he knew. So far as he had been told the fits were all like that. Whiteland said he remembered leaving the station with the intention of going to his hut and then going down to Cobden. His intention was to pack up and leave. He did not collapse that morning, “not so far as I know.” “The railway line incident seems idiotic to me,” said accused when Mr Brown questioned him further about In P repfy to a question from Mr Brown about his memory, accused said: “Man to man, to be quite frank —they say I am guilty of murder, sir. If vou and these gentlemen here say I am guilty of murder—you have got capital punishment in this country

—then hang me, sir. Mr Brown: Now, Whiteland, this is a serious thing. zxccused: I am serious, too. I am asking you to hang me if you think that I am guilty. Mr Brown asked accused if he had Sioke disparagingly about the girl aldane. Accused: I don’t remember talking

about her at all. Mr Brown: Weren’t you annoyed with her? Accused: Who doesn’t get annoyed with a woman? Mr Brown: Did you get annoyed With her about the windows? Accused: Why should I get annoyed about one window when there were 18 to clean? Accused said he had not the faintest recollection of anything happening from the time he went to the hut until he woke up in hospital. Medical Evidence Dr. Robert Hector Quentin-Baxter, of Christchurch, said he. had a wide knowledge of epilepsy and that accused had been a patient in 1944. When he first saw him, accused had a letter from Dr. Wicken. of Reef ton. which stated accused had had three weeks in hospital. Dr. Wicken said he had •ome to the conclusion that accused’s

trouble was functional—hysterical—and not true epilepsy. Accused gave witness his history, stating he had left New Guinea in 1939, where he had malaria and dysentery. He said he had queer turns and could not think clearly, eventually going unconscious. He felt bad for a tew hours afterwards and was then all right. He said he had the turns every five or six weeks, and that they were becoming more frequent. In between he felt quite well. Witness said his examination of accused was quite negative, with no signs of disease. Witness again saw accused on August 16, 1944, when he told witness he had three fits since his previous . visit. Again his examination was completely negative. Witness decided then to get the aid of Mr Murray Faulkner, a neuro-surgeon, of Dunedin, and he was examined by him in September, 1944. Again there was a negative opinion. Witness altered the prescribed i treatment slightly. Witness could not find any local or focal cause for fits again in 1945. Accused when seen in 1946 said he had had no turns. In 1947. witness had accused’s skull and thighs X-rayed, but again results proved negative. At some time previous, at witness’s request, accused brought Mrs Harris over with him, and she described to witness what happened in such fits and the description tallied with what appeared to be true epileptic fits. Accused had written frequently and witness had continued to prescribe for ■ him by letter. Witness wrote to accused in August, 1952. saying it was time witness saw him again, and accused wrote back saying he did not like to come over to Christchurch and witness allowed the matter to slide. Accused’s description in his letters to witness was a good one of the fits, indicating the effect on the one side of the brain only. A letter from accused in 1949 indicated his fear of losing his job through taking fits and said he would have to go back out in the bush seeking gold. In 1952. accused wrote thanking witness and Dr. Wicken for his general improvement, saying he practically had the fits controlled. Witness said he was still most concerned in that he might have been remiss to allow accused to go on working with the railways when he knew he was an epileptic and likely to have unconscious turns. In excusing himself to some extent, said witness, one of the things was to keep the patient at work as he would do much better and have fevrer fits.

Call at Police Station Witness said his reaction on reading about the shooting was immediate, and he went to the police station, where the detective he met was not really interested and advised him ne should see the detectives in Greymouth. He also consulted a lawyer as to the possibility of his responsibility and culpability in connexion with the shooting. At this stage his Honour interrupted to assure witness the position was quite clear and that he should have no further concern about any such aspect. Witness went on to describe the effects of epilepsy and comas. Witness thought it was possible that Whiteland’s condition was a psychomoto attack on the day of the shooting, and he was of the opinion it could have started suddenly. It would be difficult to try to say where it actually started. It could have started at the point claimed by accused. There was considerable difference of opinion about such happenings. Witness said he thought accused could have been in the throes of a nt when the shooting occurred and that accused would have no control over what he did. It might remain for seme hours. “If the act was carried out in face of an ‘automatism’ by Whiteland, would he be aware of what he was doing?” asked Mr Taylor. Dr. Quen-tin-Baxter replied: “No.” It was possible that a person with epilepsy might have a paroxysm of madness, irrespective of being in a fit. There was a lot of difficulty in differentiating at times between such an insane outburst and a state of insanity, said witness. Mr Brown, in his cross-examination, asked witness about the two main manifestations of epilepsy. Dr. Quen-tin-Baxter said the major one involved collapse, convulsions, and twitching of the arms and feet, the second involved automatism, and the third was a sudden black-out. To his Honour, witness said it was not common for epilepsy to develop in a man in his late forties. Witness thought there was still a disease in accused, and he considered it would be present without being noticed for some years. Witness agreed that there were many motiveless murders, though many were caused by heat or temper, on the spur of the moment. It was difficult to form an opinion, but he felt that on the face of it, with so little provocation—though a minor disturbance—accused might have just become unbalanced in his mind, which caused him to do this sudden act in the belief that he was being persecuted. Mr Brown then said that as the defence had called evidence in support of an insanity plea, he proposed to call evidence of two medical experts. The defence offered no objection to this course.

Accused’s Acts Discussed Dr. James Dewar Hunter, medical superintendent, Sunnyside Mental Hospital, Christchurch, detailed his numerous examinations of accused. Accused had informed him he had no recollection from the time he left the station until he awoke in hospital. Witness said in his experience automatism did not continue for more than five to 10 minutes. He considered the series of acts of accused ruled out automatism and were cool, deliberate, and purposeful. Accused’s action in lying on the line should have been collapse after his earlier emotional struggle and the shooting just before that. To resist opening his eyes, as Dr. Heaphy described, was a voluntary act and accused must have been conscious. There had been no evidence of an epileptic fit while accused had been in hospital, said witness. He was aware of accused’s jump over the stairway at the prison, as he had stated, “in an effort to end the case,” accused had claimed to have had no knowledge of this act when later interviewed by witness. “Taking into account what had been said previously by witness, it would appear this murder had been premeditated.” said Dr. Hunter in reply to a question from Mr Taylor as to whether he considered it was a premeditated murder. Mr Brown said that Dr. Saville would be the second expert medical witness to be called for the Crown when the Court resumed at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning.