Boy tried to kill policeman—jury

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 5

Boy tried to kill policeman—jury

PA Auckland A 15-year-old youth, who shot’a policeman in the leg at Manurewa, was found guilty by a jury in the Supreme Court at Auckland on nine charges, including attempted murder. After a retirement of almost six hours, the jury of eight men and four women found -the youth guilty of attempted murder, wilful damage, unlawful possession of a .303 calibre rifle, converting a Jaguar car, escaping from lawful custody, converting a Ford Mustang car, and three counts of breaking and entering. A tenth charge, of wound l ng with intent, was an alternative to the charge of attempted murder. Mr Justice Chilwell remanded the youth for sentence. t

In his summing up, his Honour said the defence had contended that the youth bad not intended to murder the police officer, but the fact that several shots were fired led to an inference that he had intended to kill. The accused had said in evidence that he had not intended to kill anyone, but had simply wanted to scare the officer out of his car, so that he could take the police car and escape. His Honour referred to evidence by a psychiatrist, who had said that the youth had an addiction to television crime series and could have been in a state of exhilarated bravado and believed that he was acting out a television episode. His Honour ruled that the youth could still be held criminally responsible for his actions.