Supreme Court Convicted, Then Committed As Insane

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31042, 23 April 1966, Page 24

Supreme Court Convicted, Then Committed As Insane

The "extraordinary case” > of a man being certified in-! sane, and committed to ‘ Sunnyside Hospital, immedi-1 ately after being convicted in ■ the Magistrate’s Court onl charges of trespass and re-| sisting the police, was traversed before Mr Justice Mac- I arthur in the Supreme Court) yesterday. The man. William Hodge.! aged 43, a builder —who had conducted his own defence in the lower court—was appealing through Mr J. H. M. Dawson against his conviction and sentence on the ground that he was insane at the time of the offences, and at the time of his trial. Mr Dawson told his Honour that Mr H. Rosen, S.M., the magistrate who had tried Hodge, had had no evidence as to his mental state, although it was “lightly mentioned” in cross-examination. His Honour: Upon whose! application was the commit-! tai order made?

! Mr Dawson: Upon his wife’s complaint sir. She gave evidence on one of the i charges. ; His Honour: Was the committal warrant signed by the same magistrate who con|victed him? ' Mr Dawson: No, sir. By Mr H. J. Evans, S.M. I Mr Dawson submitted that ! it was an appropriate case for an acquittal, since a rehearing was unlikely to produce convictions. “The case is one where justice may very likely not have been done,” said Mr Dawson, introducing the appeal. The charges against Hodge had arisen from a domestic dispute. He had attempted to see his wife at his mother- | in-law’s house, where he had raced round and round beating on the doors and win-! dows. He had then resisted a constable who was called. But lit seemed, said Mr Dawson, I that Hodge had not been responsible for his actions.

He had conducted his own defence in the Magistrate’s Court, but immediately after being convicted had been taken by the police to the police station, where he was certified insane and committed to Sunnyside Hospital.

His Honour said it was an extraordinary case. But although there were medical reports from Sunnyside on Hodge, he did not think there was enough before him to justify the step of quashing Hodge’s convictions. There should be sworn medical evidence of his insanity. Called on by his Honour, Mr N. W. Williamson, for the Crown, said that Hodge, in conducting his own defence, had not raised the question of his insanity in any way.

But the police had been aware that Hodge had on three occasions been a voluntary patient in mental institutions, and had asked the magistrate to remand him to Sunnyside for observation, but Hodge had refused to go.

His Honour said that he foresaw a rehearing might not dispose of the matter, if Hodge were held unfit to plead. He adjourned the appeal to April 27, to enable counsel to confer on the case.